Steven-X-My-OC
by Erebessa
Summary: So I'm just uploading a story based on Homeworld Steven and my OC Dendrite. Steven is kidnapped by Jasper and Peridot and brought back as a test subject before being raised on the planet. Then he meets his first Gem that kind of sort of not really belongs to him, at least if you ask him that's what he would say.
1. Kidnapped

Hey all, I just got this idea to 1 go into depth with my OC and 2 because I just wanna pair the two cause why not?

-=Beach City 13 years ago=-

It was another sunny day in Beach City, no corrupted Gems, no missions, and just an over all uneventful day for the Crystal Gems.

They were all in the temple, relaxing in their separate rooms. It had been a year since Rose had theoretically died, two of the three Gems were only just coming to accept that harsh truth and try to love Steven as Rose had wanted them to.

On the other hand, one of the Gems: Pearl, was not as accepting of the boy, she knew it wasn't technically his fault...no, it was his father, Greg Universe. He not only won Rose over, but he took her from Pearl...or at least that's how she saw it.

No, Steven was nothing more than a constant reminder that Rose was gone, and she resented him for it.

Garnet was not too much better, she also wasn't fond of Greg, but she had come to enjoy Steven. Unlike Pearl, she saw Steven in a better light: a product of Rose, something she needed to protect for as long as she lived.

Amethyst was the first to accept Rose's passing, she had let all her frustrations out, and in all honesty, she didn't understand why she did it, but she did understand that this thing she left behind was precious to Rose, and she needed to make it happy and keep it safe. Her opinion on Greg had gotten worse but she didn't completely hate him.

The man in question had recently gotten a car wash started, but he couldn't afford a house, so the four of them all came to an agreement: Steven can live with them whenever Greg has no place to put him, because he refused to put Steven in a van, and he also felt that Steven would need some mother figures in his life for stability.

They got together and built a house for the kid, he would stay there if Greg needed to run errands or something and couldn't take Steven. Of course Amethyst would come over to play with him while Greg was working but she wasn't aloud out of his field of vision.

Starting today, Steven stay with the Gems for a few days, unfortunately Greg's aunt had recently passed and he had to attend her funeral, not a place for a one year old to be.

There was a knock at the temple door, Greg was standing outside said door with a black duffel bag full of baby food, diapers, shampoo, and other things a baby needs for a week long sleepover.

Amethyst was the first out. "Hey Greg." She said dismissively as she held her hands out for Steven.

He sighed as he handed his kid to her. He didn't dare say anything about her attitude towards him, he felt it to be totally justified and knew he just had to give things time to hopefully go back to normal.

Garnet was the next to come out. "Greg." She said simply as she reached for the bag. "How long will we be keeping him here?"

"A week probably, I have to travel all the way across the country and it's a two day affair, so it will be a while." He explained as he handed a paper to her along with the bag. "These are all the things Steven needs, a schedule for eating, sleeping, and naps. My phone number is on there as well if you need anything. Also remember, he doesn't like his shirt buttoned up over his gem when he goes to sleep."

Garnet took the list and looked it over. "Could you also keep an eye on him? I mean Pearl doesn't seem to like him, and it's not like I don't trust Amethyst, but she can play a bit...rough." He said looking over to see Amethyst tossing Steven up and down.

"Amethyst, be careful with him, he's even more fragile then Greg, so don't be doing that." Garnet warned the purple Quartz.

"Yeah, yeah, you told me all of this before they got here, we're just having fun, he's laughing, see?" She smiled as Steven giggled each time she tossed him up.

"Amethyst, you aren't exactly known for your carefulness, please don't do that." She warned again with a more stern voice.

Amethyst sighed as she stopped tossing him, she walked over next to Garnet who took the child for a bit herself. "Alright Greg, we got this, you can leave now."

He gave Steven a kiss on the head. "See you soon Stu Ball, have fun." He waved to him with a smile before walking off.

Garnet waited till he was gone before holding Steven in front of her. She took off her visor and smiled at him. "Hello, Cutie Pie, how are you?"

Steven giggled at her and put his hands on her cheeks. "Hehe, glad to hear you're having a good day, are you ready to go to the beach?"

Steven in turn started clapping and babbling nonsense. "I'll take that as a yes, let's get you in some swimming shorts."

Amethyst held the boy as Garnet changed him into some shorts and a swimming diaper. She grabbed some floats that they had in a closet, and Amethyst grabbed an umbrella from her room to put above Steven while he played.

Garnet put sunscreen on him, despite his resistance and the three of them headed outside. "So Steven, what are we doing first?" Amethyst grinned as she put him on her shoulders.

"We should get set up on the beach with other people, I understand that you want to play with him, but he needs to interact with kids his age as well." Garnet said as she lead the other two to the public beach.

They spent the day there, speaking with some of the human parents that occupied the beach despite the fact that they didn't want anything to do with the humans other then letting Steven play with the other kids.

The day was less than eventful, Garnet let Amethyst do all the interactions with the adult humans and she took Steven out to play in the water but somehow got stuck with all the kids, so there was that.

The day was coming to an end and Pearl still had yet to leave her room, leaving Amethyst and Garnet to deal with a cranky Steven who didn't want to go to bed.

"Come on, Steven, you had a nice warm bath, some yummy food, and got changed, what's wrong buddy?" Amethyst said, trying to calm him down.

"Here, give him this." Garnet said, handing a pacifier to her. "Just put it in his mouth."

She did as instructed, at first he refused it, but he eventually put it in his mouth and started calming down. His eyes slowly closed and soon he was asleep.

"Dang, I had no idea he could be so difficult, how does Greg do this every day?" Amethyst sighed as she dropped down onto the couch.

"That much I'm unsure of, he's only human, it must be difficult to keep up. But whatever, I could care less about his struggles." Garnet shrugged as she followed her downstairs. "Be sure to lock the door and windows when you go to your room."

Amethyst gave a thumbs up as she dropped a pillow on top of her head and let herself relax.

-=2:30 AM=-

Amethyst had gone back to her room an hour ago and the entire house was quiet. That was until the sound of the temple door opening and shutting was heard, though the only one around to hear it was the pale white Gem that came from said door.

There was no sound from her as she silently made her way to Steven's crib. She leaned over the edge with a glare. "You...you're keeping my Rose trapped. I think it's time for her to come back, I won't back down this time."

The atmosphere got darker as she reached for his exposed Gem and placed her fingers on it. She got a grip on the edges, but just as she went to pull it out there was a loud boom from the sky outside.

Pearl froze in fear as she looked out the window. A large green ship was descending from the sky and right for the temple.

Garnet and Amethyst burst out of the temple, Amethyst rushed outside with no regard for the white Gem, but Garnet saw it all. Pearl's hand on his gem, the look in her eyes,...what she intended to do.

"Garnet I-" Pearl started as she pulled away but Garnet held a hand up. "No, we will talk about this later." She growled.

Pearl followed her outside with a dreadful feeling sinking in, she knew she was in trouble.

The waves crashed violently and sand flew everywhere. The ship was now hovering over the water.

"Gems, stand your ground and be ready to fight whoever comes out of there!" Garnet shouted to them.

The hand turned palm up and two Gems appeared on top. One was a Peridot, she had her gem on her forehead and was suited up with limb enhancers.

Next to her was a huge Gem, she was orange with darker orange stripes all over, her Gem replacing her nose.

"This is it?" The orange Gem sighed as she walked closer. "For Diamonds sake Peridot, when you said the radar picked up Gems, I had hoped it would be an actual threat."

"Jasper, you know that the Diamonds would want these, if they saw we picked up Gem life and we didn't take action they would be furious." The Peridot reminded her.

"Whatever, Rose Quartz isn't even here, why would they care?" Jasper said as she rolled her golden eyes.

"Because these Gems would know WHERE she is, use your head for something else then beating people into the ground for once!" Peridot argued.

"You better watch your mouth if you want to make it back to Homeworld with your gem intact." Jasper glared.

"You need to leave, now!" Garnet commanded as she stepped forward, summoning her gauntlets.

"Yeah, step off!" Amethyst shouted, summoning her whip with a look of anger.

"This is not a Gem controlled planet!" Pearl, who already had her spear out, informed them, only to get a glare from Garnet who was obviously still mad.

"So, Rose isn't here? What a shame, I was hoping to meet her, I was looking forward to 'beating her into the ground'."She growled, quoting what Peridot said while giving her a mocking look.

"But this is all that's left of her army? Some lost, defective Pearl, a puny, over cooked runt, and this shameless display?" She said with a raised brow, annoyed about the wasted time.

"You don't need me for this, go ahead and destabilize them, I'll check their base for Rose." Jasper said as she jumped down, making her way to the new house.

"Amethyst, go keep an eye on Steven." Garnet ordered quietly before charging at the Jasper.

The purple Gem ran for the house as the two eldest Gems went to fight Jasper. This was proven to be a mistake; right as Garnet got to her Jasper shoved a yellow rod into her stomach, sending yellow lines all over her, her body seemed to separate into multiple cube-like increments before she retreated into her Gems.

Pear was next, sliding behind her and charging at the large Gem with her spear. Jasper just huffed before grabbing the handle right under the blade and swinging it over her, slamming Pearl into the sand. She then proceeded to yank the spear away and stab her in the chest with her own weapon, proofing her immediately.

"Now then, what are you hiding?" She smirked as she watched Amethyst standing in the doorway.

Jasper jumped onto the porch only to see that Amethyst was making a run for the warp pad. "No you don't." Jasper grinned wildly, doing a spin dash and catching up with her in no time.

She went to punch her but Amethyst jumped out of the way at the last second, Jasper missed her and slammed her fist into the warp pad, sending cracks all over it.

With nowhere to run she hid Steven under a blanket before summoning her whip. "You're going down." She growled.

Jasper just scoffed as Amethyst swung her whip at her. She grabbed the end of the whip and pulled it, sending Amethyst flying across the room towards her. Once Amethyst reached her, Jasper punched her in the stomach with enough force to send her flying into the kitchen, breaking a few cabinets.

Before she was able to get up Jasper stomped on her head, sending her back into her gem. "How pathetic."

There was crying coming from the couch, that's where Jasper noticed the blanket moving. "What do we have here?" She smirked, ripping the blanket away to reveal a crying Steven.

She raised a brow as she lifted him up. She looked him over, noticing the gem on his stomach.

"Don't tell me you're Rose Quartz." She glared with annoyance clear in her voice. "Why do you look like that, why aren't you saying anything?"

Steven looked into her eyes and instantly stopped crying. He put a hand on her Gem and began laughing instead.

"Stop that, let me go you psycho." She growled pulling his hands away. "Oh I'm going to have fun with this."

She lifted him into the air, about to throw him into the floor but Peridot interrupted. "Why are you fighting a human offspring?"

"You need to get your gem checked, this is Rose Quartz, can't you see the gem on her stomach." Jasper asked holding him upside down by the leg, as if showing him off.

"Jasper, do you really think that the leader of the Gem Rebellion would turn into that? Obviously what's going on here is that these tyrants were experimenting on human offspring and messed up, now it has her gem." Peridot theorized as she took him from her.

"In fact, this is a very valuable subject. I'm bring it back to the Diamonds." She smiled in victory as she raised him up.

"You want to take Rose Quartz straight to the Diamonds? Are you insane?! this could all be a trick to get her to another Diamond, I say we crush her while we can." Jasper said, reaching for him.

"And what will you say when I tell the Diamonds that you destroyed such a valuable specimen? Do you honestly think you'll survive that encounter?" Peridot smirked, pulling him away.

Jasper growled as she glared at Peridot. "You better hope you're right."

"Of course I am, look, it's already sporting a diamond on its outfit." She said gesturing to the diamond-like shape over his gem, the Gems left this part open so he wouldn't throw a fit and it coincidentally ended up like this, not that Peridot would know or needed to know.

"Hurry up and get back in the ship, I want off this ball of mud ASAP." Jasper sighed as she stomped off.

Peridot was about to follow her before she noticed a black bag with a paper on it. She picked up the paper and read it over. It looked to be a list of instructions, schedules, and some number combination.

She looked in the bag and started pulling stuff out. She ended up holding a toy of his and examining it. "Is this a weapon?..."

Steven giggled as he reached for it. Peridot raised a brow as she started putting two and two together. "So you're a Steven?" She asked, referencing the name that was on the paper.

She glanced at siad paper again. "It seems to be a schedule designed to know when you need nutrients and how much of it you need, as well as a hibernation schedule...hmm, I best take this with me."

"Peridot, if you don't get out here, I'll shatter both of you!" Jasper shouted from the ship.

The green Gem just sighed as she looked around. "I guess I'll need something to keep track of earth time untill we have Homeworld study this more." She grabbed a clock that had fallen off the wall as well as the black bag and the list.

"What took you so long, why do you have all that?" Jasper questioned as she approached the ship.

"To my knowledge, these are instructions on how to keep this 'Steven' alive, and this apparently has all it will need for nine Earth days." She informed the large Gem.

"You best keep in mind that if Rose is really just scheming, you're going to be shattered." Jasper smirked as the green orb surrounded them much to Steven's amusement.

Peridot thought on it for a bit before looking Jasper dead in the eye. "That's a risk I'm willing to take."

Peridot walked off towards the control room with Jasper right behind her, rolling her eyes at Peridot's comment.

"Whatever, where are we going now?" Jasper asked as she sat down and kicked her feet up.

Peridot glared at her. "We could leave with this 'Steven' but I'm sure Yellow Diamond would be more interested in the Cluster, so first we are to check that." She said as she dropped the bag full of supplies for Steven next to her and sat down with him in her lap.

"Alright, I'll go ahead and pretend that I could ever believe that's not Rose, what do you plan on doing with it if it's really some disgusting test subject gone wrong?" Jasper asked as they ascended into the sky and started heading for the Kindergarten.

"It will probably undergo tests, most likely under White Diamond, her court is all about testing on perfecting Gems after all." Peridot shrugged as she stopped Steven from getting off her lap.

"Alright, and what exactly do you believe that thing to be then?" Jasper asked with a raised brow, watching the oblivious child.

"Well it seems that Rose was doing some experiments with the humans and something went wrong and now she's stuck in this thing, I'm not even sure if she would survive that. It's that, or her team betrayed her and did this to her, it doesn't matter, we will get answers from the rebel Gems we caught." She theorized while stopping the ship right over the Kindergarten.

"Anyway, I'll be right back. You have no reason to accompany me down there, so while I go and check the data, you watch the Steven." Peridot said, setting him on her head.

"Excuse me?!" Jasper shot up but Steven clung to her hair.

"You heard me, I can't risk breaking it by taking it down there, all you have to do is make sure it doesn't hurt itself. Just be careful with it, human offspring are more fragile then even the grown humans." Peridot instructed. Before Jasper could put up a fight, Peridot had already left in a pod.

"She's lucky that she has a use still, I should just say that those rebels shattered her and move on with my life." Jasper grumbled to herself.

She looked around for the Steven but couldn't find him. "Where did you go Rose?!" She shouted out. Just then she saw two tiny hands fall in front of her eyes impeding her vision.

She turned and looked in the closest reflective surface to see him sleeping on her head. "You try anything funny, I'll crush your Gem into a find powder." She threatened, though he didn't hear, and even if he did, he wouldn't understand.

Jasper sat down and crossed her arms as she waited impatiently for Peridot to return. That being said, she ended up just sitting there for nearly an hour.

Peridot came in, seemingly finishing a log date. "-seems to be doing fine, it should emerge in maybe fifteen rotations around this planet's sun. Further investigation and a check up required a rotation before then. Peridot out."

"Finally you're back, it shouldn't have taken that long." Jasper growled as she approached her.

"Why is the Steven still on your head?..." Peridot asked, pointing to the small boy.

"Don't ask me, you put it there, and it hasn't gotten down yet, now take it back and let's go." She demanded.

"Sorry Jasper, but I was doing research on this 'sleeping' that the humans do, a long with many other human customs and requirements while I was waiting for the data to download, if we move it now, it will wake up, and the instructions list says that it is far past it's time to 'sleep', so it would be potentially harmful for further and proper testing if we deviated from that list." Peridot said as she passed Jasper and sat down.

"I swear, if you're wrong about this, I'll request to be your personal executioner." Jasper threatened as she sat down as well.

"I am fairly confident in my theory, I'm sure I will be fine." Peridot rolled her eyes, brushing off her comment.

"Guess we'll just have to wait and see." Jasper grinned at the thought of wiping Peridot clean from existence as they took off towards Homeworld.

-=End Of Chapter=-

There you have it, can't leave the kid alone with the Gems for one day without a super coincidental attack happening.

I hope you enjoy it so far this is nothing more then a side project, mostly just for my own enjoyment, but also so when I implement my OC into other stories, you'll have somewhat of an idea on who I'm talking about, though she will usually be in different situations depending on how her past went in that timeline.

Anyway, as always,

have a good day, goodnight, or good afternoon, I might be seeing you again here soon.


	2. New-found-happiness

Hey all, I'm actually having fun writing this and I'm really excited to get to the point. Homeworld Steven has always been an amazing thing to me, I just love seeing him work as he is meant to, especially when he becomes a true Diamond.

The Diamonds have always and will always be the better family for Steven in my mind.

Think about how sweet Blue is towards him, that is the PERFECT mother figure, and Yellow? She's the aunt that's strict but in a loving way, she keeps him in line so he won't grow up to be a spoiled brat like Pink was.

When it comes to White tho, I see her as a second mother that isn't really Blue motherly levels but still motherly in her own way, she gives him these little pet names and tries to make him into the best Diamond that he can be, even if he ends up not wanting to be that way.

Anyway, get comfortable, grab some snacks, and let's read.

-=One Earth Day Later=-

Steven had proved to be a difficult _thing_ to keep up with, and the list that Peridot was provided with wasn't helping. She made sure he had an empty diaper despite how much she hated that job, she made sure he was fed on schedule, he had his midday nap, and none of his toys were getting his attention.

"I don't understand what's wrong with the Steven, I tried asking it but it apparently not only can't speak, but it can't understand what I'm saying either!" Peridot whined as she threw her limbs up in annoyance.

Jasper just scoffed. "I told you to throw the thing out the air lock, you brought this on yourself."

Jasper has refused to help Peridot, saying that 'she should've known Rose would make this difficult', or telling her just to crush his gem, though that option was out the window.

Now, even if Peridot did want to do that, which she still didn't, she couldn't because she reported to all three Diamonds about 'the Steven'.

She told them how this seemed to be Rose's gem, how it looked like it was stuck in a human offspring, and how weak it was. She also tested something new now that she had the Diamond's faces right there as well.

She showed him each Diamond separately, he gave Yellow, who was giving him a slight glare, a confused look, he giggled and clapped at White's shining smile, and he gave excited babbling noises at Blue, seeming to reaching for her image.

His reactions to the powerful monarchs that would scare any Gem they were mad at, was enough to convince them not to just shatter his gem right away, to see if this was really a separate entity from Rose.

White was morbidly curious to see what happened to Rose Quartz, Blue mostly stayed quiet other then mentioning that she wished she could've given her a punishment instead, and Yellow just laughed mockingly, either in victory of Rose's imprisonment or death, or because she saw this to be a fitting punishment, for her to be trapped by the very thing she fought to protect.

Either way, she gave Yellow the report on the Cluster and was ordered to bring 'the Steven' to the throne room as soon as they got back to Homeworld.

Peridot pushed a digit from her enhancer to his chest. "Alright you little pebble, you better stop that excessive noise or so help me, I swear I-" She stooped mid-sentence after Steven grabbed the digit and put it in his mouth.

"Give that back you monster!" Peridot growled as she tried to pull it away only to realize that she wasn't getting it. She left good enough alone and let him keep it as long as he was quiet.

"Oh come on runt, you can't just let her push you around." Jasper smirked walking over to them and pulling on the object he took from the poor green Kindergartener Gem. "Just take it back, simple as th- ow, what the heck are you doing?!"

Jasper was swinging her arm back and forth as Steven held onto her hand with what little teeth he had, the motion only making him bite harder. "Rose just bit me! Get your little freakish project off of me before I crush it!"

"You should calm down, one of earth documants I read while I was there said that shaking it too much could kill it, I don't care if it has a gem or not, we won't risk it." Peridot said, grabbing her digit back as well as Steven.

"Here you go Steven, stop causing chaos and be quiet." Peridot ordered as she gave it back to him. Thankfully he _was_ quiet after that, being contempt with his new toy long enough to get them back to Homeworld without any more incidents.

They landed after finding the least busy place on Homeworld where they could get to the throne room without anyone seeing Steven, as per the Diamonds' request.

After a while of sneaking around with the half human baby, they made it to the room they were looking for: the throne room.

Peridot tried to keep her composure in front of the three massive monarchs but wasn't hiding her nervousness very well, Jasper on the other hand just stood there with her arms crossed over her chest as she waited for this to be over.

"Now then Peridot, you have that thing that Rose is bound to?" White asked calmly with her as usual eerie smile. "I shall try to see if she's really dormant inside of it or if it needs to be destroyed."

White gently took Steven from her and examined his gem. She ran her large finger over it, seeming to just be rubbing it in circles as her finger and his Gem glowed, receiving laughter from the hybrid.

She pulled her hand away with an even bigger smile, a genuine smile, this almost scared the other Gems in the room more then her usual fake one.

"I see...yes, further testing will be needed, but if we see that she is really dormant, we will let this creature grow to see what will become of it, I'll have some of my Gems go out to study about human offspring and bring back necessary supplies, in the mean time, we should put it somewhere safe...Blue, that's where you come in, you are by far the most caring about Pink and her planet, this is a product of all that, you will raise it and I will begin testing on it as soon as possible." White explained to her fellow Diamonds.

To them, it was obvious that she was hiding something, but they knew better than to press her for what it was. "Then what's my role in all of this? I miss Pink just as much as Blue, why does she get a part in this because you assume she cares so much more than I?" Yellow glared.

"Calm yourself Yellow, I understand you miss Pink too, but you seek to get rid of and destroy everything that reminds you of her, that is not what this 'Steven' should be around as it grows. When it is old enough, you will train it; teach it how to be a Gem." White said, giving Yellow her role in raising Steven.

"White, I get that the organic part is somewhat a product of Pink, but this thing is far more Rose Quartz, and you know how I feel about her." Blue argued, getting emotional.

"Blue, I know, we all feel the same way about her, but this isn't Rose, this is something completely new that Pink would of course love. Now, you will be in charge of its education, you make sure it learns everything there is to know about Homeworld and then some, do you think you can handle that?" White smiled as she set a confused but giddy Steven in Blue's hands.

Steven turned around and looked up at her before squealing in excitement before hugging her thumb. Blue calmed down a little bit, thinking to herself: 'There's no way this is Rose Quartz...no, White's right, this is something completely new.'

"Yes, White, I'll do it, I'll make it an intelligent Gem and Yellow will make it strong, right Yellow?" Blue said, looking down at the small boy who was already falling asleep in her hands, and for the first time since Pink's shattering...she gave a small smile.

Yellow sighed as she notice said smile before giving a nod. "Yes, if it really is cheering you up, I'll do it, even if I'd rather just crush her and get rid of the offspring."

"My Diamonds, the Steven seems to have a strict schedule to follow, it includes how to make the earth food for offspring referred to as 'baby formula', it's just a powder from earth that you mix with warm water so we should be able to replicate the ingredients." Peridot said, handing Blue's Pearl the paper and duffel bag.

"It also includes a hibernation schedule that you must follow, along with tips on how to make him fall into said hibernation, that's if you can figure out what in that bag a 'pacifier' is."

"Hm, good, you two may return to your posts, expect promotions in the future." White Diamond dismissed Jasper and Peridot with a wave.

"Thank you, my Diamond." Peridot said, making the Diamond salute. Jasper was already halfway out the door at this point, though the Diamonds didn't seem to be paying attention.

"Alright then Blue, I'll be sending out a team to go and gather as much data on human offspring as possible, they will return with supplies so make sure you have a place to store them along with the Steven, in the meantime, have your Pearl follow these instructions and keep it alive." White ordered before turning to Yellow.

"Yellow, be a dear and have one of your research teams start converting Earth time to our time so we can stay on schedule without error." She said, giving Steven one more glance before making her way out of the throne room. "I'll send my own team out immediately."

The Yellow leader pulled up her holo-screen and contacted her team, setting up a crew to go to earth with them, while heading to her chambers.

That left Blue with a sleeping Steven in her hands. She held her small smile as she watched him, getting up from her throne and making her way to her own chambers.

Once she got there she sat herself down, careful not to wake the child. "Pearl, would you please go retrieve the bag and schedule from the throne room, we seem to have forgotten it."

"Yes, my Diamond, my apologies, I will be back soon." She said with a salute and a bow. The slim Blue Gem left Blue Diamond alone with Steven so she could retrieve the requested items.

"A Steven huh? No, you won't just be a Steven here, you will be the Steven, if White and that Peridot are right, then you are the first ever of your kind...and something from Pink's colony as well. I'll make sure you grow to do amazing things in service of Homeworld." She spoke to him despite the fact that he was sleeping.

-=five earth days later=-

Blue looked mentally exhausted, not only did she have to deal with running her court, but now she had a human offspring that would throw a fit if it wasn't with her, she really had to get it to like someone else now or she might go insane.

Steven was almost always a good child though, he only really cried when he needed something or when Blue left him with anyone else. He had started taking a liking to her Pearl, but would still get upset if she left the room.

Blue had Steven sleeping on her hand as the schedule suggested that he should be sleeping right now. She received a call from her holo-pad and she was quick to answer it before Steven woke up, she learned the hard way how cranky he could be if he was woken up before his nap was over.

"Yes Yellow?" She greeted her sister in a hushed voice.

"Blue, do you still have that 'Steven' there, or did something happen?" Yellow questioned her seemingly ignoring the fact thatBlue was trying to be quiet.

"It's right here, but can you please quiet down, it's sleeping and I don't want to have to deal with it when it's sleeping schedule is broken again." Blue pleaded.

"You're a Diamond, just show it who is in charge, as a Diamond, you don't let other Gems make a fool of you." Yellow responded, not quieting down at all.

"It doesn't understand anything I say, it seems that human offsprings aren't intelligent until they grow older like the other humans in the zoo." Blue sighed, thinking back to all the times she tried to communicate with it.

"Well it's your job to teach it, anyway, my team has returned with more information on that thing, along with some supplies, cause White's team didn't grab enough.They're sending us each all the information that the earth has on 'babies', which is what humans call their offspring, but you will be getting all the supplies." Yellow informed her before sending her a file.

Said file contained everything anyone could ever need to raise a baby, it came with what they should eat at what age, how to deal with a sick baby, how to talk to/act towards a baby, how to entertain them, and proper ways to teach a baby so it's brain begins developing earlier.

"My Gems had taken the liberty to grab human 'medication', toys, books, food, diapers, stuff to clean it, and cloths, as they were mentioned on the list." Yellow informed her while reading from the list of supplies that had been brought back.

"Alright then, we should have what we need to take care of Steven then, right?" Blue asked, hoping that this would make everything easier.

"Yes, also, bring it to White, she wants to run some tests that humans would deem safe enough for it." Yellow informed her as she got up from her throne. "I'll be leaving to check on one of my new colonies now, goodbye Blue."

"Alright then, goodbye Yellow, I'll have Steven over there to White as soon as I can." Blue nodded before ending the call.

She looked down at the sleeping hybrid with a small smile. She felt that this could be a proper thing to fill the hole in her proverbial heart, it wasn't Pink or a substitute for her...but it was a start to a recovery.

The reason she never had something to fill this hole, was because the only things she had ever know were the Gems of her and her sisters' courts, and sure they were all wonderful, but they only loved her because she helped make them, because she was their Diamond.

This little human 'baby' didn't have a developed enough brain to make those kind of decisions, it just loved her unconditionally and while it could get tiering at times, it was nice to have it around, and she was glad that White gave her the job of raising it.

"Pearl, please go meet with Yellow's team at the loading bay, have them bring the package here. I will be going to see White, so meet me when you're done." Blue said as she got up from her throne.

"Yes, my Diamond." Her Pearl responded with a bow. "Will that be all?"

"Yes, just make sure the package gets here and come to me when you are done." She smiled before leaving.

Later on, Blue was in a lab with White and Steven. "So what kind of tests are you going to be running?" Blue asked she she handed the now awake Steven over to the scientist.

"Nothing too bad, maybe a few blood samples, I'll have to send my research team to go and gather information about blood so we can know what Homeworld things will be safe for it to have, then of course we will be doing some scans of it's gem to see if it's even active." White explained.

Blue nodded as she listened. "Ok, but what do we do if the gem is still active, does that mean that..." She didn't finish her sentence as she looked at the gem in the boy's stomach.

"Possibly, so if it shows that the gem is active, we will have to do something about it I guess." White shrugged before turning to her workers. "Go ahead and scan it's gem, I guess we can wait until we know what we are doing before we do blood tests."

One of the scientist Gems came forward and placed a strange box shaped device in front of his gem, making him laugh as it scanned the rock in his stomach.

His gem glowed as he continued to giggle, and the Gem that scanned the child moved away. "Yes, it seems that the gemstone is still active, though it appears to be as if the physical form has been destabilized. Essentially, this human is keeping it from making its own physical form."

"Hmm, oh well, we wouldn't want any accidents now would we?" White asked turning to Blue, who in turn just looked at the hybrid.

"I...yes, I suppose you are correct, if that gem was to be pulled from him, Rose would be set loose on Homeworld." She sighed, feeling her newfound happiness fade.

"And I'm sure Yellow would be quick to agree as well. Alright, extract the gem, we're going to speak to Rose and then shatter her, I'm sure Blue has many questions as well." White said with her regular creepy smile.

The Gem that White had addressed gave a nod as she picked Steven up. He gave her a confused look as she set him on a table, restraining his arms and legs.

She then turned to her Diamond, pulling up a holo-screen with multiple files about humans and their offspring. "Now, to extract the gem from the offspring's body would result in death for the organic half, do you still wish to proceed?"

Blue looked like she was about to speak up but White beat her to it. "We have no need for the organic half, whatever happens to it is of no concern."

"Very well my Diamond." She said with a nod as she went over to Steven who was still confused and starting to get upset that he was restrained.

She removed his shirt and grabbed some metal device with pinchers on it, presumably to rip the gem from his body. The pinchers gripped his gem before the Gem operating it slammed her fist on a button, in one swift motion, his gem was out, there were cries coming from Steven as a blinding light flashed.

Cliffhanger, there ya go lmao.

Didn't wanna do it but I mean I do at the same time, I'm at 3k words and I like this cliffhanger kinda, plus it not like anyone is reading this right now, so it won't effect anyone. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed then.

And as always, good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.


	3. Pink-Steven

**Hello, it's another day that I'm bored, so take this. Also, I'm not sure how links work here, I'm used to Wattpad who lets you use pictures, so if you want to see what is supposed to be there, follow the link at the end, and if it doesn't work, just hit me up and I'll show you if you're that curious:**

**Discord:Erebus ( Έρεβος) #3732**

**Just so people can only send a request once they are sent my name specifically.**

**Instagram: nitsua_samoht**

**Pretty sure that's my @ at least.**

**Anyway, get comfortable, grab some snacks, and let's read.**

**-=White's Lab=-**

**-=White Diamond/Blue Diamond/Science Gem A/Steven/???=-**

After the light faded, everyone was able to see again, but when they looked down to the Gem that caused the blinding light, they were surprised to see it wasn't Rose Quartz.

There, next to Steven, was another Steven, a pink Steven. The human half of Steven was hardly able to get small whimpers out while the pink him just looked around in confusion.

"White...what's happening?" Blue asked, confused and a bit scared, hating to see the human Steven in his current state.

"Hmm, scan it now that it has a form." White ordered the lab Gem that had been doing all the work.

She gave a nod as she grabbed the scanner again, but before she could even turn back to him, the pink Steven noticed his human counterpart laying on the table, dying.

The human half of him was instantly covered with a pink, blocky dome before the pink one began to sniffle.

Everyone watched in surprise as this happened, Blue anxiously waiting to see if White would see this as good enough proof that Rose is gone. "Um, W-White, I don't think that that's Rose..."

The scientist Gem scanned this pink Steven, and before White could even get a word out, before the scanner could process what it just scanned, the pink Steven began to sob.

This wouldn't be a problem if it was just Steven, but whatever this was, it was so much more. The sheer force of the cry was enough to shatter the crystal block that the two were on.

The human half sat in the sort of blocky bubble unaffected, the rest of them however were a different story.

White and Blue could feel pain in their gems and as for the scientist, her gem just straight up shattered into millions of pieces.

The room was shaking and objects were breaking, the Diamond sat there not knowing what to do, in fear, they were quaking.**(Don't ask me why I wrote this, it just happened. I could get rid of it...but am I gunna?)**

Blue grabbed both sides of the split infant and placed them next to each other, the pink one dropped the shield as he calmed down. Blue scooted them closer together, and in another flash of blinding light, they were one being again, leaving the normal, crying hybrid named Steven.

"Blue, why did you do that? Now we have to have it removed all over again." White sighed in annoyance.

"White, we both saw whatever that was...Rose is gone, we can have peace now, and a new unofficial member of our family." Blue argued as she picked him up and held him close.

Now that Blue's back was to her, White gave Steven a small glare. "Alright Starlight, I'll play along...let's see just how long you last."

"Fine Blue, I guess you're right. You may take him back to wherever you need him to be, we are finished here." She nodded as she turned to her Pearl. "Pearl, clean these shards up..."

Blue left with Steven, who was starting to clam down. "My My, Steven, you're quite strong, you'll grow up to be an amazing soldier here, won't you?"

Steven just babbled as he wrapped his arms around her thumb the best he could. Blue ended up back at her chambers with him, her Pearl was just dismissing Yellow's team after they delivered the package.

"Oh, welcome back my Diamond, I assume all has gone well with Steven's trip to White?" She asked in her calm and gentle voice.

"Yes, Steven will be fine. I actually have some work that needs to be done. Yellow is off planet and it's below White to come from her head for something so small, do you mind watching him? He seems to like you a lot too."

"Yes, my Diamond, go do what it is that you need to do." Blue Pearl smiled as she took Steven. "Hello, Steven, would you like to play with some of your new toys?"

Steven laughed as he put his tiny hand on her gem. "Alright then, I shall be back soon, have fun Steven." Blue waved to him before leaving.

At first he was upset but after a minute or so, Blue Pearl was able to get his attention with the many toys he now had.

The Pearl admittedly enjoyed Steven, so she was always happy when her Diamond ordered her to watch after him.

She spent most of her time trying to teach him words but he just responded with gibberish, so she went back to just letting him play.

-=Time Skip/ Four years later=-

-=Location, Blue Diamond's ship.=-

Blue Diamond, her Pearl, and Steven were all flying through space, on their way to a check on a colony that was nearly completed.

Blue was going to let Yellow be the one to take Steven to a colony first, but Yellow said she was fine with her doing so, and she had no one to watch him because Yellow was also off planet as well as the fact that she still didn't feel safe leaving him with White after the lab incident a few years back, making this the perfect time for a certain surprise for the boy.

He had been keeping up with his studies very well, he could tell most stories of the history of Homeworld from memory, read and write pretty well in their complex language, and he was familiar with most Homeworld customs. She saw this to be more than worthy of a prize.

Steven had been excited to go with Blue due to the fact that when they arrived, Gems would be emerging. The boy had been told how Gems were made but had never witnessed it, so he was understandably happy that Blue let him come along.

"Momma Blue, when are we gunna be there?" He asked, looking up to Blue. As his teacher, she felt it to be only right to teach him about his human culture, in turn, he took to calling her mama Blue, Yellow Diamond being called momma Yellow, and White being...well she told him to just call her White or White Diamond, not liking the title: grandma White.

"Soon sweetie, just keep reading your book, you'll be making a report on it in forty eight hours, remember?" Blue also may have learned a few earth customs too, such as calling your child 'sweetie'.

"But moooommm, I just did one five days ago." He whined as he opened his book back up. He was reading the language of Gems at the rate of what a third grader would be reading on earth, needless to say, Blue was impressed, knowing that human children don't usually start reading till a a year or two later than her Steven had.

"I know, you have to do one every week, if you get this next one perfect, I'll give you next week off." She promised, giving him a smile.

"Really?" He asked, as he glanced at his book. "Ok then, but I get next week off for sure, you mean it?"

"Hehehe, don't worry Steven, I would never go back on my word." She laughed, lifting him onto her shoulder.

"Yeah, I know." He smiled as he leaned against her head and got back to reading the book that was rewritten in the language of Homeworld.

Blue didn't see any reason for him to learn how to read and write in human english so she never bothered having her Pearl teach him, going as far as having all his books rewritten with their language instead, just so it wouldn't impede his learning of their language.

Now with Blue's Pearl. She was standing next to Blue's throne quietly with her hands clasped in front of her. She gave a small smile, knowing that she taught him so well that even her Diamond was impressed.

She had been teaching him the basics for almost a year now, math, science, writing, grammar, and the history of Homeworld. All things that she was ordered to teach him. She couldn't take all the credit though, he was a fast learner and her Diamond had good methods of teaching him.

Maybe two hours later they arrived at their destination, the planet was already drained of life, signaling that the Gems of this planet were ready to emerge.

"So Steven, I wanted to wait until we arrived to tell you why I was so adamant that you came along. Well besides the fact that no one else could watch you, you are here for a surprise." Blue said, looking over to the young boy.

"A surprise? What kind of surprise?" He asked as he stood up, getting excited. "Pearl, what do you think it is?" He asked before Blue even got the chance to explain.

"How about you ask our Diamond that, she's the one who set it up for you after all." Pearl smiled at him.

Steven just turned to Blue, keeping his excited face as he was nearly bouncing in anticipation. Blue gave him a small laugh before answering, "Well, Steven, as you know, we are on a planet I was colonizing, and they will be emerging not long after we land, right?"

"Yeah, it'll be my first time seeing it happen!" He cheered, thinking of this trip alone as some grand prize that he never thought he'd acquire.

"Well, you will be picking out a Gem. I've decided that it would be best to keep a Quartz around you at all times to keep you safe." Blue informed him with a smile.

"Really?!" He asked, his excitement rising even more. "So I get my own bodyguard?"

"Yes, in a sense I guess. Anyway, they will always be around you, to keep you safe when I'm not there." She continued as she got up from her seat and surrounded them with a blue sphere that took them outside. "You get to pick whoever you want."

"Now Steven, you just need to remember, this Gem is a living being with feelings, just like you and I, just because Yellow and White don't think that way doesn't mean you should too." Blue reminded the boy of what she had told him many times in the past.

She herself had always tried to treat her Gems as fairly as possible without having the other Diamonds look at her differently, so she was determined to make sure Steven knew that other Gems have feelings and are Gems like himself too, therefore should be treated how _he _would like to be treated.

"Understood mom, I'll make sure to treat my bodyguard as nice as I possibly can." He assures her with a smile.

"Very good, now, I have to go speak with the Gem running things around here, you and Pearl wait here for me." Blue ordered before setting him down and leaving.

Steven stood there, holding Pearl's hand excitedly as he waited. "Pearl, what do you think they'll be like? Do you think they'll be nice like you and momma Blue, do you think they'll be strong?"

"Of course Steven, you are getting a Quartz after all, they are made to be strong. As for nice, I don't see how anyone could be mean to you." She responded as she ran her fingers through his curly hair soothingly.

After a minute or so of this, Steven calmed down from his excited mood and laid against her with his eyes closed. Pearl learned this when he was three and had hair growing in, he seems to really enjoy it when she did this, and most of the time he ends up falling asleep.

She kept him there like that for a while until Blue came back. "Alright you two, I've been told exactly where to find the place that the Quartz's are made at, so let's get a move on, we have a limited time here."

She placed the two of them in her hand where they sat the whole way to the Quartz only Kindergarten. Steven was still half asleep when they got there due to Pearl finding it funny that she could do that with such little effort, but he still jumped up, reenergized and once more excited for what was to come.

"Ok Steven, they'll be emerging any minute now." Blue smiled as a Kindergartener from her court came up to them.

"Don't mind me, my Diamond. I'm just here to make sure things run smoothly." She answered the group's unasked question, waiting along with them.

It took a bit longer than Blue originally thought, but after maybe half an hour, there was finally movement. The Kindergarten came to life once more as Quartz soldiers popped out of the walls left and right.

Steven, who some how kept his excitement all the way through that wait, just sat there in awe, no hyper active over the top reaction, as he saw the beauty of the making of hundreds of Gems.

"Woow, I've never seen so many soldiers in one place." He commented as he leaned over the edge of her hand, watching as all of them gave Blue the Diamond salute.

She bent down and let Steven off onto the ground. "Now Steven, go ahead and get to know some of them, choose one and then we can go."

"Okay!" He smiled as he ran off to meet as many as he could. Blue watched him with a fond smile, knowing that he was excited to make as many friends as possible. He wasn't exactly aloud to be sociable as it is right now, as he's too young to use his powers and someone might find out what he really is.

After a few minutes Blue began to get bored. "Steven, Sweetie, not to rush you on such an important decision, but please do make this fast, we still have two more planets to stop by."

Before he could answer there was commotion heard by both of them not too far from them. Blue was about to grab Steven and go in case it was an attack or something, but he had already ran towards the shouting, so she followed him in a panic.

"Steven, get backhere, it could be dangerous!" She called, but it fell on deaf ears.

When they arrived to the source of the disturbance, the first thing they noticed was a tiny Gem. This was a section completely dedicated to Quartz soldiers so this greatly confused Blue.

"What is that Gem?" She asked, looking to the Kindergartener that had approached them earlier.

"Do not worry, my Diamond, this is just a small hiccup in the system. This here is a Dendrite, she's supposed to be like the others but she turned out off colored. She will be dealt with immediately, I'm sorry for the disturbance." The Gem reaches for Dendrite, but she just backed into her hole with a look of fear.

"No, please, I don't wanna be shattered." She cried out as she was pulled from said hole. Steven looked to Blue who looked right back to him.

"Yes Steven?" She asked, lifting him up to face level. "You seem troubled, what is it?"

"Um...remember that whole thing about all Gem lives matter and they are just like you and me?" He asked twiddling his thumbs.

"Yes, of course. But there is a difference, that Gem is off colored, there is no way we could let her serve Homeworld." Blue explained, hoping he understood.

"Wait, she doesn't have to do what the other can do!" Steven panicked as he saw the small Gem go out of his line of sight. "In fact, you said I could choose the Gem, I choose her!"

"Oh Steven, I know you mean well, but you need a Gem that can protect you, she's too small to do anyt-" Steven interrupted her, something he had never done because he knew that it was improper to do so to a Diamond, mom or not, but this was important.

"But they're going to shatter her, I want her to by my Quartz." He continued to argue.

"Sweetie, there are many Gems right here who would love to be your soldier, can you please pick one of them?" Blue asked, really not wanting to change her mind.

"Mom, you said I could choose any Gem I wanted, well I chose her, she can get stronger, in fact we can get stronger together, you just need to see reason." Steven practically begged.

Blue couldn't take it anymore, she was powerless against his puppy eyes so she gave in. "Very well Steven...if that's your choice."

She set him on her shoulder and made her way after the Gem that had the Dendrite. She wasn't one hundred percent ok with this, but she did tell him that he could have any Gem he wanted. She just hoped she could get this past Yellow and White.

"Excuse me, let go of that Gem. I'll take it from here, don't worry." Blue said as she approached the Kindergartener and Dendrite.

"M-my Diamond, with all due respect, you shouldn't have to dirty your hands with this, I have it under control, I promise." The Gem argued.

"Give me the Gem, that was an order, not a request." Blue glared as she held her hand out, waiting for the Dendrite.

"Yes, my Diamond." The Gem sighed as she pushed Dendrite towards the Diamond. The small Gem looked scared in the presence of the Blue monarch, but Steven made his way onto Blue's hand.

He reached his own hand out to her with a smile. "Hey Dendrite, nice to meet you, my name is Steven."

She looked at him for a few seconds before slowly taking his hand. "H-Hello Steven...nice to meet you too." She said timidly.

"Don't worry, you'll be ok with us." He said as he pulled her up. "I've chosen you as the Gem I want to be around me and protect me all the time, would you like that?"

She looked between him and the Diamond. "Y-Yes... I'd like that very much." She said with a nod.

Now that Blue got a good look at her, she realized that this Gem may not be inherently fit for being a soldier, but she was definitely elegant, almost like a Pearl.

She had a white Gem, to the left side of her chest, with black marks, making it look like snow covered trees in the winter of Earth, a diamond cut out of her cloths with a dark blue outline to show said gem, and she had short, snow white hair with bangs that fell just above her light blue eyes

She had pale white skin that matched her Gem, an elegant blue dress that stopped right under her knees, white leggings, and a little trinket with a dark blue diamond jewel on it handing from her hair on the right side near the front.

"Alright Steven, let's return to my ship, we don't want to start running behind now." Blue said as she started to make her way back to her ship.

Once they were back in space, Steven immediately started to show Dendrite around, while Blue just sat on her throne with a small smile, glad that if anything, he at least made a new friend.

"So Dendrite, what do you wanna do now?" Steven asked after the tour, wanting his new friend to enjoy herself.

"Whatever you would like to do, my Steven." She answered. Steven already didn't like that she answered that way one bit.

"No, just call me Steven, I want us to be on equal terms, ok?" Steven told her, not liking the feeling of having an underling.

"Y-Yes, of course...Steven." She smiled at him as she said his name.

"Thank you, now what would you like to do?" He repeated his question, hoping for an independent answer.

"I think... I would like to go to the anti-gravity room, that was fun." She responded holding her small smile after thinking for a few seconds.

"Oh yeah, that was pretty fun." He chuckled before taking her by the hand and leading her there.

Dendrite had already felt herself growing close with her new friend, she was happy that she had met him, and determined to learn to fight for him.

**-=End Of Chapter=-**

**There's another chapter out, now we got my Dendrite in, so that's nice.**

**Dress design in this Chapter can be seen here: https//pin/275212227206883212/ go visit the link to see it.**

**As for her Gem, I can't find the link, so if you're really that curious, you have my social info.**

**And as always, good morning , goodnight, and good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.**


	4. Steven’s-Life-on-Homeworld

**I don't have much to say about this chapter, I know I'm usually a chatter box who goes on about meaningless crap before and after a chapter, but I guess all I want to say is t****hank you, to all the people who read **this story, it's not exactly a story I take seriously about updating, but it's nice to see people reading my ideas that have basically **nothing to do with the cannon show. Hopefully you end up liking it too.**

**Anyway, as always,**

**Get comfortable, get some snacks, and let's read!**

**-=Homeworld/Diamond throne room=-**

**-=Steven, Dendrite, and the Diamonds=-**

Blue had recently returned with Steven and Dendrite, they had stopped to check on four other planets. Dendrite and him were getting along just fine, and though Blue found it harder to keep Steven focused on his books when he had a friend around, she understood that a new face was well over due for him.

"So, Yellow, this is Dendrite, the Quartz, Steven picked out. Now I know she may not seem like a capable Quartz soldier, but Steven seems to really like her and I know we would both appreciate if you overlooked her...shortcomings until she has gotten stronger." Blue explained to her fellow Diamonds, in hopes that they would be okay with this Gem.

"I don't see why not, if she's dedicated to Steven then I say go ahead and give her a chance." White said with her normal smile as she starred down the small Gem.

"Well then? Are you ready to give your life protecting him? That is your job now after all." Yellow interrogated her with an intimidating glare.

"Y-Yes my Diamond,... Steven has shown me such kindness despite the fact that I'm...wrong. He even treats me as an equal, even if I'm a defect. He saved my life, so I want to be here to protect him for as long as my Gem has even a single shard left." Dendrite said confidently as she looked the Diamond in her eyes.

Yellow gave a small, approving smile. "Very well then, I too agree that this Gem can stay. I like her determination and dedication, I'll have my best Gems train her with Steven.."

"Oh yes! Steven, take Dendrite with you for training today, it's almost time for you to go anyway, so I'll go for now." Blue said with a smile.

"Ok mama." The boy who had stayed silent till now said with a nod. "Let's go Dendrite, we should get ready before we start."

"Ok then, lead the way." She smiled before following him out the door, the two on their way to train.

"So, do you really think she'll be able to do anything? It's rare that a defect gets to become strong, I don't want to see Steven get too close and then she have to be replaced." Yellow conversed with her fellow Diamonds.

"Yes, it's as you said, she has determination, a determination that I rarely see in even a proper Gem. She will get stronger, I'm confident in that." White said as she kept her eyes on the door. "What's your opinion on her Blue?"

"I think that she really cares for Steven, I want him to have someone who will always be there for him, be there when we can't. I think that Dendrite should be that someone." Blue responded as she sat down.

-=In the halls=-

-=Steven and Dendrite=-

"Um, Dendrite." Steven started as he walked next to her down the empty hallway that led to a warp pad to Yellow's section of Homeworld.

"Yes, Steven? Is something wrong?" She asked as she turned to him with a confused and almost panicked look. "Did I say something wrong back there?..."

"No, no, nothing like that. It's just...what do you mean when you say you're...wrong? Or when they said you're defective?" Steven asked, not quite understanding what was so wrong about his friend.

"Well, I'm a Dendrite, a Quartz soldier. I'm supposed to be like three to four times my size...I'm supposed to be strong, but I'm not, so I'm defective, in other words,...I'm wrong." She explained, hoping that he didn't start thinking less of her now that he knew what it meant for her to look like this.

"But...you don't look wrong to me. I mean, who cares what you look like, you're really nice, you're a fun person, and I just enjoy having your around. If you ask me, there is nothing wrong with you, you're great!" He smiled, throwing his hands in the air.

"Steven...thank you..." Dendrite could only muster up those words, happy to know that the boy looked past what Homeworld would shatter her for.

"For what?..." Steven asked, confused on what he did to deserve such a reaction from her.

"Thank you for choosing me to be your Quartz, for saving me from being shattered back at that Kindergarten,...for being so nice to me." She listed off the things she felt grateful for.

"Oh, well I mean it's just the right thing to do. I saw that they were going to do something bad to you, so I just felt that I had to help, and you turned out to be an amazing friend, so I'm glad that momma Blue let me come along to check the Kindergarten." He explained with a shrug.

After a bit of conversation while they walked, they finally got to Yellow's warp pad. After they warped to their destination it didn't take long to get to his trainer, one of the now five people who knew of his existence-

"Jasper!" Steven called with a wave as he entered the room with Dendrite. "I'm here for my daily training."

"Hm, you're a bit early. Any reason for that?" She asked as she crossed her arms and eyed him suspiciously.

"Yeah, Blue had work to do so since my training session was so soon, she sent me here with Dendrite early." He smiled as he pointed to the white Gem.

"This is a Dendrite? Why is she so small? I thought that the defects were shattered or harvested, why is she here?" Jasper asked as she looked her over.

"Jasper, be nice, this is my new friend and my Quartz, Dendrite." He presented her with a smile, the small Gem just giving a sheepish smile.

"And all the Diamonds agreed to this?..." Jasper asked, doubt heavy in her tone. "I find that kind of hard to believe, a Quartz would only be given to you so she could protect you, this runt couldn't protect herself, much less you."

"Jaspeeeerrrrrr, be nice." He whined stepping forward. "She is my friend, and she will be training with me from now on, Yellow said so."

"Seriously, I have to train this lost cause?" Jasper groaned. "This is not what I was thinking when I was told I'd get a promotion..."

"Well,... I'm glad you got the job of training me." Steven pouted as he crossed his arms and turned away.

"Stop messing around and just go do your stretches, I'll see what I have to do with this one." Jasper sighed as she walked over to Dendrite.

The smaller Gem felt fear in her presence but tried not to let it show. "Y-Yes?..."

"Hm, well unlike an organic, your strength is at its max from the second you come from the ground, so why don't you show me your weapon, you at least have that much right?"

"Um...maybe? I just came out of the ground not too long ago." She admitted as she looked down to her Gem. "How would I pull it out?"

"Ugh, you're supposed to know this stuff right after you come out of the ground." Jasper complained. "Just channel all of your energy to your Gem and think about your weapon."

"But I don't know what my weapon is..." Dendrite said, feeling even worse about herself and how she wouldn't be able to protect Steven if she couldn't even summon her weapon.

"I don't know, just picture all the weapons you know, you're bound to come across it eventually. Anyway, you do that, I have to go and make sure Steven starts working, he's going to start learning how to use an axe today, he already can use a small blade effectively."

"Right...but what's his weapon?..." Dendrite asked, confused why he would learn how to use more than one weapon.

"Yellow Diamond requested that I make sure he can use any weapon he comes across, and he can't summon his weapon yet." Jasper sighed as she looked over to him, receiving a smile and a wave.

"Wait, he can't summon a weapon? Does that mean I might not be able to summon a weapon either?" Dendrite panicked.

"It's unlikely that you won't have a weapon, every Quartz has one, some rare elite ones even have an ability too." Jasper explained. "But unlike you, he has an excuse, he's half organic, so it's probably just has to do with his human body, the Diamonds seem confident that he'll get stronger as he ages."

"Wait, what? That's not even possible...is it?" Dendrite glances over to him without making it look obvious. "Did a Gem fuse with him?"

"No, it's not my business to tell you what he is and how he is what he is, you can ask him yourself after this." Jasper said with a dismissive wave.

Dendrite gave a quiet nod before Jasper walked back over to Steven. She began to focus on different weapons, just any and every one that came to mind.

"So then shorty, grab a practice axe your size and let's get to work." She ordered as she went to the side of the room to set up some holographic enemies.

Steven came back with a dull wooden axe that wouldn't hurt him if it swung back and hit him while he got used to it. "So for our first half hour, go ahead and just swing it around to attack these Holo-Gems so you can get the hang of it."

"Same as last time?" Steven smiled as he looked at the axe. "But this one's a bit heavy compared to the small blade you had me using last time, you sure I shouldn't wait till I'm older to use this?"

"Nah, you should get used to having the weight on on end, if I just have you using swords and light weight weapons that will instill that fighting style into you, and you know the Diamonds want you to be efficient with any and all weapons." Jasper informed him as she set the targets to move.

They spread out into groups and charged the boy. Steven, having never used this weapon before just started swinging wildly, nearly falling over, but taking his attackers out.

This went on for quite some time, nearly getting taken out many times, but still being able to keep up.

"No, no, no, you're doing it all wrong. You gotta have your feet planted flat on the floor, bend your knees slightly, and lean into your attacks just enough to put in more power to the strike, but not enough where you'd fall over if you missed." Jasper explained as she reset the holograms.

Steven was only five years old, and while that's more than old enough for a Gem to fight, it was quite difficult for Steven to learn, as he was part human. Well at least the axe wielding part was hard, he found it easy and even sort of fun to learn how to protect himself with smaller blades, but battle axes were a large step.

"Ok...I think I get it." He said in am unsure voice. The holograms sped towards him again, giving him barely any time to react. He bent his knees slightly like he was told and planted his feet firm on the ground before swinging.

This axe was light weight so luckily it didn't send him flying, that being said, he found this to be much easier than swinging off of basic instinct.

"Better, but remember what I taught you, keep an eye on all of your surroundings." Jasper reminded him before he was kicked a few feet away by a holo-Gem.

Steven made a groaning sound as he got up to his feet. "Ok, I'll remember that."

The hologram ran at him again so he took it out with a swing to the neck. Jasper walked over to him, studying him. "Hm, no bad injuries, stance isn't the greatest but that can be worked on, and you're still kinda just swinging with your fight or flight, try to hit with a purpose, not just to stay alive, but to take down the enemy."

"Wait, but if I'm not trying to stay alive and I'm just trying to win, won't I get hurt or die?" Steven asked, confused on why he wouldn't try to keep himself safe.

"Not what I meant, I'm saying that you need to focus more on your offense than defense. With the way you're just swinging that thing madly right now, it takes longer to recover from the swing." She explained, clearly getting annoyed.

"You gotta keep the momentum going. Even if the first strike kills one target, you still have others to deal with, so you gotta keep it moving, it'll gain more speed as long as you keep the motion going. Here, let me demonstrate." Jasper offered as she grabbed an axe.

The simulation started up again, creating larger holo-Gems that had weapons as well. Jasper gripped her axe tightly before all the holograms ran at her from different directions.

She swung the axe through the form of one, then, using the momentum of the first swing she was able to spin and cut through the head of another. One went to attack from behind but she was able to kick it in the stomach before slamming the axe into its chest, using the momentum from that one to swing from under the next holo-Gem, cutting it in half from the bottom.

"There, you see? If there are many, don't stop after you cut through one, and if there is only one, use all the weight in your body to slice through that one, you're small and relatively weak compared to us and our enemies so it'll take all you have to finish someone in one blow." Jasper instructed before starting up the next round of starter holograms for him.

Steven gave her a nod as he gripped his axe and copied Jasper's stance. This time he ran at them, the initiative the child showed surprising the orange Quartz.

He swung for the knee, a technique that Jasper had also taught him. After the dull blade broke through the leg of the first one, it swung into the side of the next one, not completely cutting through it, but going deep enough to be a win.

He jumped back as one of the holograms went to grab him. After recollecting himself, he cut its hand off before slamming the axe into its head.

The last holo-Gem was coming at him at full speed. He panicked and started running away till he noticed he was cornered, sitting between a wall that the hologram.

He thought for a second about all the times he watched Jasper fight, hoping to remember something to help him here.

After a small flashback to a session with Jasper, he made a plan. He went full speed towards the wall before using the momentum to run up it half way, and launch himself at the hologram.

He grinned happily as the axe went right into its head and all the way down to its chest. The last hologram disappeared and he dropped to the floor panting.

"Well well, not exactly what I taught you, but I guess you've been paying attention to my other lessons." Jasper grinned as she patted him on the back as what she considered to be as soft as possible.

The hybrid didn't respond, instead just sitting there, trying to catch his breath. "Hm, well I guess not all of them, you were holding your breath when you ran and attacked, weren't you?"

Steven just responded with a few nods as he handed her the weapon back. "You'd be a pretty good soldier if you weren't half human I guess, you're a fast learner at least. Anyway, today was just to get you comfortable with it, you're dismissed early, go see Peridot for your daily checkup."

Steven had finally managed to catch his breath so he could respond. "Thanks Jasper, same time tomorrow?"

"Yep, as always." Jasper nodded before sending him off. Jasper had been assigned to be his trainer after he turned 5, and at first she declined the 'promotion', but after she was ordered to spend some time with him, she realized that this wasn't Rose.

That being said, she still believed that Rose was still alive, going along with Peridot's theory of her being imprisoned inside the organic child.

She talked to Peridot and found out that she came to a conclusion: if Steven was to ever die, then Rose would be free again.

Of course Jasper originally planned to go rip the Gem out of the child and throw him into the nearest star, but she thought about it for a while. This human is a prison for her, she's trapped by the very thing she fought for, there was no better irony, no better punishment.

Now she trains him, making sure that he can stay alive, that he can defend himself so that Rose never escapes her hell.

Steven made his way over to Dendrite who was still concentrating on summoning a weapon. "Hey, we're done here for today." He smiled with a wave.

"Really?" She asked, looking over to him. "What do we do next then?"

"We're gunna go see Peridot so she can give me my daily checkup, then I can do whatever for the rest of today." He responded as he took the lead towards the door.

Him talking about the 'checkup' reminded her of what Jasper had said. "Steven...what are you?"

"Oh,... well I've been told I'm like, part human, and part Gem. Peridot says I'm a...what's the word...hybrid I think." He responded, turning back towards her. "Why?"

"Well I mean, that's kind of impossible. I may not have all the knowledge a Gem should have, but even I know that this would take some insane Gems with some kind of forbidden science." Dendrite said, still quite baffled that he was truly a hybrid.

"D-Dendrite...is this going to change how you act towards me...the last time someone found out, she was really mean and said bad things to me..." Steven hoped that his new friend wouldn't already hate him.

"No, of course this won't change anything. Steven, you still like me, even if I'm defective, why would you being part human make me hate you?"

Steven felt a wave of relief wash over him as he gave her a small smile. "Thanks...that means a lot."

Dendrite went to speak but she was interrupted by a voice calling out from far away. "Steven?!"

The aforementioned child looked over to where the voice came from. "Did someone just call for me?..."

"Could it be the Peridot you were supposed to be seeing?" Dendrite asked, just as confused as he was.

"She's in the other direction...hm, maybe she needs something done over there, let's go check it out." He smiled as he started to rush down the hall.

When they got to the end of said hall, they saw a door open, leading into a dark room that was accompanied by yellow lights and a quiet humming.

"What's this?..." Steven went to walk into the room but the door slammed shut right in front of him.

A green Gem came up from from behind them and stood in front of the now closed door, a holo-pad in front of her, assumably being the item she used to close said door. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Peridot!" Steven smiled as he threw his arms around her. "Wait...if that wasn't you then... Peridot, what's behind that door? How did it know my name? Why was it calling for me?" Steven let her go, bombarding her with his own questions instead of answering the one she asked.

"Some very dangerous Gems Steven, it would be in your best interest to never go in there." She warned as she stepped away from the door. "Now follow me, you have shots today with your check up."

-=Inside the dark room=-

-=A couple minutes prior=-

Peridot was walking through, doing her daily check on the prisoners. "So, another day of you telling us nothing huh?"

"When I get out of here I'll shatter you, you better not have done anything to Rose!" The Pearl screamed.

"I'll take that as your silence, same time tomorrow then." The green Gem sighed before leaving the room, forgetting to close the door.

"Guys...how long have we been here now?" An Amethyst asked with a sigh from behind a yellow energy field, trapped inside her own cell.

"Would you stop asking that? It's getting annoying to hear that every day we are here!" Pearl shouted, annoyed at the purple Quartz.

"Will both of you shut your traps?! Arguing won't get us out of here, and it won't rescue Steven!" A Ruby shouted at the two Gems.

"It's been four years, seventy days, six hours, ten minutes, and fourteen seconds." A Sapphire said with her calm voice answering the question from earlier.

"Stop paying attention to our time in here and help us find a way out already!" Pearl, basically throwing a fit at this point.

"I haven't seen you do anything other than trying to kill Steven for the second time in a year, how about you pipe down and do something besides criticizing others!" Ruby growled.

"You're seriously still holding that against me?! It's been four years and over two months since then, when will you drop this?!" Pearl responded.

"When you actually start caring about Steven and his well being! I'm sure if this never happened he'd be miserable right now anyway, because of you!" The red Gem glared.

"You say that like Homeworld hasn't already destroyed him, I want him back too you know..." Pearl mumbled

"HKW DARE YOU?! YOU DON'T WANT HIM BACK, YOU JUST WANT ROSE'S GEM BACK, YOU NEVER CARED ABOUT HIM OR WHAT HE STOOD FOR!" Amethyst spoke up in anger.

"Wait, quiet down, I hear something." Sapphire ordered in a hushed voice.

All four Gems went quiet and listened in as much as they could. They couldn't make out the conversation, but they heard one word: "Steven"

"STEVEN?!" Amethyst shouted as she ran to the edge of her cell, careful not to touch the forcefield.

She shouted again but the sound this time hadn't made it out, Peridot remotely turned on the sound barrier after watching this occur from a small camera in the room.

"Not today you clods." Peridot smirks victoriously before making her way down the hall.

**-=End Of Chapter=-**

**Well the beginning of the movie to next season hiatus (yes it's still the beginning, this thing might be lasting a year.) has me feeling dead inside, just like every hiatus does to everyone, so I guess all I have to say to those of you who feel empty without the show running: writing helps. It keeps me connected with the show now that we have no idea when we'll see it again, so you should try it if you already haven't.**

**Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter, more to come soon...maybe, thanks for reading.**

**And as always,**

**Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.**


	5. Gaurdian-of-Bath-Time

Me: has been gone for over a week

People who follow my stories: More Spinel X Steven!

Also Me: throws out another chapter for the story that nobody asked for.

For real tho, I will be getting back to it soon. lol

The last thing I want for that story is for it to die out.

So, this chapter is short because the other half of it will be in the next chapter that I'm like half way done with, the thing that takes up most of this chapter has to be the AN at the end.

Anyway, get comfortable and grab some snacks or something, and let's read.

-=Peridot's Laboratory=-

-=Peridot/Steven/Dendrite=-

Peridot spoke into her log keeper that was specifically meant for Steven and his checkups.

"The Steven seems to lack any injuries from his daily training, and he shows no signs of ill health. As usual, everything is in order."

Steven laughed as Peridot prodded and poked him with her digits. "C''mon Peri, you don't have to do this every day ya know."

"What? Yes I do, my job requires it!" Peridot argued as she continued looking him over.

She walked away from the hybrid and over to her table. After a few seconds of moving stuff around and gathering what she needed, she returned with a few needles.

"Aww, Peri, why this again?" Steven whined.

"Because, the Diamonds require you to be able to handle Jasper's training. You're too small and weak to do that naturally, so this is to help your Gem activate to its best extent... no matter how minimal the results are." Peridot explained for what felt like the millionth time.

Dendrite stepped in front of him. "As his Quartz, I can not let you harm him in any way" she said with very little confidence but a strong resolve.

"Steven, who's this?" Peridot asked, seemingly unimpressed as she folded her arms.

"That's Dendrite, me and momma Blue just got back from checking Kindergartens and she let me get my own bodyguard. Long story short, Dendrite's that bodyguard. Also, please don't pick on her for what she looks like, Jasper already did that." Steven says, informing the green Gem about his new friend.

"Right...well, I guess me stabbing you with needles would look bad to those who don't know what I'm doing. Listen Quartz, this is going to help him, it may hurt for a bit, but in the end it will make him better, understand?" Peridot spoke, coming down to the white Gem's level.

"Oh...I see. I'm sorry, I'll get out of the way." She said shyly as she realized her outburst was for nothing.

"It's fine, you're just doing your job." Peridot said with a sigh as she approached Steven. The hybrid in reluctantly rolled up his sleeves and let Peridot inject him with multiple different liquids after she took some blood samples.

Steven felt the energy he wasted in training come back to him and a shiver down his spine as his gem glowed, and Peridot could swear she saw his eyes flash a quick pink before returning to their usual brown. This had been happening on and off lately when she would inject him, she was pretty sure that she wasn't seeing things, but if she really wasn't, then what did it mean?

At first she thought that he was becoming stronger and this was just a side effect of his growing power, but recently she made her own theory that whenever she would inject him, the super charge would awaken something, that something could be Rose Quartz, the only reasonable answer to her theory, what else could it be after all?

Steven stepped down from the examination table and walked over to Dendrite. "Well, I guess it's time for me to go then. I'll see you tomorrow Peridot, but you're welcome to come and play at any point." Steven said with a wave.

"I am much too busy for that, you have yourself a new little friend now anyway, you don't have to drag me from my work anymore." Peridot said dismissively as she put vials of his blood in her cold storage container with the rest of them.

"Okay then, I'll see you tomorrow then." Steven gave her a wave before grabbing Dendrite's hand and pulling her with him, leaving the Gem in her lab.

-=Steven's room-=

-=Steven/Dendrite=-

Steven had brought his new friend to his room and was showing her all of his stuff. Toys, plushes, and pictures with the Diamonds and their Pearls.

Steven had a true family who loved him here, even if Yellow had trouble showing it at times, the fact still remains that he let him call her mother as well.

After a bit of playing, he sat down and started reading one of his books, restarting the entire thing and reading out loud for Dendrite.

The aforementioned Gem sat on his bed next to him. After about an hour, Blue's Pearl called for Steven. "Steven! Dinner!"

"Oh, Pearl's calling me, let's go!" He said as he got off his bed.

Dendrite followed the boy down the blue halls, stopping at a fairly large room. There were devices in the room; Homeworld tech rebuilt for the purpose of heating Steven's food.

"What's for dinner, Pearl?" Steven asked as he took a seat at the table in the room.

"I made you a salad as well as a separate plate with mashed potatoes, a pork chop, and breadcrumb covered, baked zucchini. I will make your dessert once you have finished your dinner." She responded with a smile, setting his food down in front of him.

"Thanks Pearl, I like when you cook, you somehow make even vegetables taste good." Steven said as he grabbed his utensils.

"Why, thank you, Steven. I try my hardest to make every meal as good for you as I can." She replied as she sat next to him.

"Hey, Dendrite." Steven said, looking to his friend. "Come sit next to me, try some."

Dendrite walked over to the table and sat herself down on his other side. "Yes Steven?"

Steven scooped up some potatoes and held the spoon out for her. "Here, try a bite. Pearl refuses to eat her own food so I want other Gems to try eating it too cause it's really good."

"Really, I'm not all that great of a cook, my passion is in drawing." The blue Gem insisted. "Like I said, I just try my hardest"

"That's not true, you're an amazing cook, just watch." He said as he held the spoon out for Dendrite. She looked at it before taking a bite, copying what she had seen Steven do.

She let it sit in her mouth for a little bit before swallowing. "...It's really good." She said with stars in her eyes. "May I have more?"

Blue just gave a small chuckle. "While I'm glad you like it, but there's only just enough for Steven. I will make you something next time I cook for him."

"Don't worry, I'm not extremely hungry today, plus, like you and momma Blue taught me: sharing is caring." Steven says as he gives Dendrite another spoonful.

"No, it's really ok, I wouldn't want you to miss out on something that was made for you." She insisted with her hands up. "I don't even need it, you do."

"Go ahead, you liked it, so you can have some more. I really don't mind sharing a few spoonfuls of my food." He said, not moving the spoon away.

"Well...if you insist, I'll have just one more bite." Dendrite said sheepishly before taking another spoonful into her mouth, this time savoring the flavor.

Blue Pearl just chuckled at Steven's need to make everyone around him as happy as possible. She took pride in the fact that her and her Diamond raised such a loving and caring being. "You seem to really like your new Gem, Steven."

"Yeah, Dendrite's the best-" he stopped to correct himself. "Not to say that you and everyone else are worse than her, I love you all equally."

"Of course, I understood what you meant." The Pearl said with a chuckle. "You're understandably excited about your Quartz."

"She's not my Quartz she my friend, I don't own her." Steven corrected. "But yeah, Dendy is really fun to be around, especially since you and the Diamonds are usually busy with running Homeworld and whatnot."

Dendrite fiddled with her fingers, slightly embarrassed by the nickname, her red blush burning clear as day on her snow white skin

"I see. Well, I'm glad you have yourself a friend now, I was always unhappy knowing that you had to sit in your room alone while me and my Diamond were working" Pearl said, turning to Dendrite. "Please, try and keep him happy."

"Y-Yes, of course I will." Dendrite said with a small smile and a nod.

"Good, my Diamond let you be Steven's Quartz for a reason, I trust that you will." The blue Pearl said, returning the smile.

Steven and the two Gems had a few conversations while the boy ate his food, insisting that Dendrite try the other items on his plate as well.

After that was all said and done, Pearl cleaned the dishes as the boy went to his wash room. "Alright, Dendy, you can go find something to do now, I have to take a bath." Steven said, standing in the doorway of his bathroom.

"I don't understand, aren't I supposed to be at your side at all times?" She asked, confused on why Steven would tell her to go.

"Well yeah, but bath time is something I have to do alone, that's why you need to go find something to do, just consider yourself on break I guess." Steven explained before closing the door.

Dendrite stood there for a while, not sure on what she could do other than make sure Steven got the alone time that he needed for whatever bath time was.

Not too much later, the Pearl walked up to the door with a set of night cloths folded neatly in her hands. "Hello there, Dendrite."

"Oh, hello." She replied with a smile and a wave. "What's that?" She asked, pointing to the cloths in the Pearl's hands.

"They're clothes, Steven will need these for when he's done in the bath." She explained before trying to walk around the white and blue Gem.

Dendrite moved in front of her. "Sorry, but Steven says that bath time requires him to be alone, I cannot let you enter and disrupt what I can only assume to be a ritual of his."

The Pearl just giggled as she stepped back and held the cloths out. "Alright then guardian of bath time, will you please give these to Steven once he's done?"

Dendrite gently took the cloths from her and held them carefully on her palms as if they were some ancient relic.

Pearl just giggled some more at how the small Gem took this so seriously. "Well, good luck with your new job, I will get back to mine then."

She left Dendrite there, standing in front of the door, holding the cloths out as she waited. Nearly twenty minutes later, Steven peeked out the door. "Oh, hey Dendrite, have you seen Pearl? I need my cloths."

Dendrite turned to him with a serious look. "Yes, I have held onto the cloths for you." She said, holding them out for him to take.

"Oh, thank you Dendy." He smiled as he reached an arm out and took the cloths. "Hey, what are you doing right there anyway?"

"I am; as the Pearl said: the Guardian of Bath Time. I stood here to make sure you were able to do your bath time ritual in private and in peace." She responded.

Steven just laughed it off as a joke and played along. "You did a great job, Guardian Dendrite! You have done a great service for this bathroom, thank you very much." He said with a playful salute.

Dendrite dropped her serious act for a second, growing a joyous smile. "Really? You mean it?"

Steven, still thinking that this was a joke, just responded with another laugh, saying, "Of course!"

Dendrite gave a small cheer for herself after Steven closed the door to get dressed. Though Steven assumed the whole thing was a game, the feeling of doing something good for him and getting praise for her work made the little Gem's day.

Later that night Pearl tucked the boy into bed, giving him a kiss on the forehead. "Goodnight Steven, rest well." She said with a smile.

She handed him one of his stuffed animals as he responded, returning a smile. "Thank you."

After she left, Steven turned to his friend who was standing by his bed dutifully. "Um, Dendy, do you want to sit down? Pearl never has the time to try sleeping, you can try it though."

"Pearl explained this to me. When you go to sleep, you are in your most vulnerable state, I have to watch over you." She explained, glancing over to him.

Steven just sighed as he sat up. "Dendrite, remember what I said on the ship after we met? Me and you are friends, you don't have to work for me like this."

"Yes, I remember that...but it's not like that. You saved me from the Kindergarten, you brought me into your life despite the fact that I am probably the least qualified Gem to do the job that she was supposed to do for you...and yet you chose me and didn't let them shatter me." She explained, looking down with a tear in her eye.

Steven was about to say something, anything that could cheer her up, but before he could say anything, she continued.

"I've come to realize that you really don't understand what it means to be an off color, especially to the extreme that I am. Steven, think of it like this: you were created for one purpose, whatever that purpose may be is not up to you. After being created, you come out in a body that has no chance of ever serving your purpose, therefore making your existence void of meaning. Then imagine that a stranger came to you, the stranger being deeply connected to the leader of your entire race, and yet still accepting you for who you are despite the fact that you can't do what you were made for. This stranger brings you in, believes in you, and just...gives you a purpose again. Wouldn't you want to give everything you have to make sure nothing ever happens to that person?" She asked, now seeming like she was close to straight up crying.

"Dendrite..." Steven pulled her into a hug. "Hey, don't worry about any of that, you don't owe me anything. I am more than happy to have a friend over having a bodyguard. Do you think that any of those other guys would've been as fun and nice as you? I understand what you feel. Gems tend to be upset when they learn about what I really am, that's why I have to live here and stay hidden...and alone. But not only did you accept me for who I am, but you have became the friend that I've always wanted."

Dendrite sat there in his embrace for a moment, just taking in what he had told her. "So, don't feel like you owe me anything, you've already more than made me happy by just being my friend."

She pulled away from the hug, wiping the tears from her eyes. "I-...Thank you Steven...I don't know what else to say. Yet again, you've managed to cheer me up and make me feel like I'm worth having around, and I've only known you for this day."

Steven just gave her a smile before scooting over and patting the right side of the bed. "Of course, now go ahead and relax with me...if you want."

"Sure, I will try this...sleep" she agreed as she sat down. Steven helped her with the covers and handed her one of his stuffed animals.

"There, now just lay down and close your eyes. You'll fall asleep eventually." He instructed as he did just that.

Dendrite gave a happy smile as she closed her eyes. Every moment she was around him, she grew even more happy that he found and saved her.

**-=End of Chapter=-**

**(Warning, long ass AN that for the most part does nothing for the story you are reading, read it or not, you're not really missing anything other than the first paragraph or so.)**

**Alright, now what I see in quite a few stories is little Steven using bigger words and has a more mature outlook on life than a kid should, and just over all speaking like he would if he was still a teen. Now I'm trying to make him sound five, but I'm not sure what five year olds sound like, so I'm just having him work at a highly intelligent level for a child of his age because he was being taught from a very young age by his blue mothers.**

**So there, I get to have him speaking at somewhat of a older level, and you guys get an excuse as to why, fair?**

**Also, do you ever hate that when you write something and then forever later, you think of a more sensible plot you could have written for it but it's too late now?**

**I recently thought up a reason for Dendrite to be the way she is and an excuse for what's to come...I've foreshadowed it a bit before but Incase you genuinely didn't see it, I won't point it out.**

**(Spoiler sort of, though if you're here, you've likely come from either of my stories that have gotten reasonably popular, so you probably have an idea on what's going to happen, but if you actually want to learn about her along with this story, just skip the rest of this.)**

**-**

**Anyway, the more sensible plot that I was thinking of, was to put her in a Kindergarten that she didn't belong in. A Quartz that was made in a Kindergarten specifically for elemental type Gems. But then, I guess it wouldn't make sense for Blue to be there and looking for a Quartz for Steven, so I'm just going to keep with his plot**

**Now, I also want to mention someone that I follow is making a story with a bunch of OCs and Dendrite will be featured in it. Now I understand that this isn't that big of a deal for most people when they have an OC featured in someone else's story, but Dendrite is basically my child. She was an idea before I even got into writing, the only reason that she hasn't been completely fleshed out yet is because I'm just now making background stories for her. This was my second ever OC (my first one was ditched because that was before it was clear to me that all Gems are presented as female) and it's just really cool to think that she'll be somewhere else other than in my own stories. Hell, it's unlikely, but maybe one day I'll even get somebody to draw her...yes, I am trash at drawing, yes, I tried really hard, no, I will not make my dumpster fire of an attempt public.**

**Now this was more so for my Wattpad readers to understand but I am bringing this story over soon, so I guess you'll understand later.**

**Anyway, you see, in every SU story I make, Dendrite has some role in it, no matter how small. Each story is a different time line that shows what Dendrite could've been if things had gone differently, even though that's usually never the main focus.**

**For example: the "Steven of the Stars" Dendrite. She is the opposite of what this Dendrite is. She didn't have a Steven to save her, she had a panicked moment of "oh my stars, I'm about to be shattered" so her power broke through just the one time that it did. In this time line, era twos are treated as less than equal due to them missing the ingredient that Pink added to their creation, and Dendrite proved to be a useless Gem, even for an era two.**

**It was reported to White Diamond herself that an "off-color" (or in that time line, an Era two) Dendrite had used elemental powers, and that of course caught her attention. Dendrite was allowed to live a normal and happy life for a while before White ordered Blue to run tests on her with her powers.**

**Now, Dendrite's emotions were broken and played with over and over again in an attempt to create a successful era two Gem, as she had showed herself to be the closest thing to a era one in power that they had seen in thousands of years.**

**Long story short: Dendrite ended up becoming an emotionless assassin of a Gem.**

**Anyway, I promise that whole thing was for a reason and I didn't just forget what I was originally saying. **

**The Dendrite that will be featured in this story will be the bad one from the story I mentioned...or at leas that's the closest representation. Anyway, if you're reading this and you somehow don't know this person, go ahead and check out _Faded_ on Wattpad and their story, The Beacon in the Night if you want to see more Dendrite, or just to see some genuinely interesting stories that they have written. I for one, am excited to see what becomes of her when written by someone else, even if she ends up with a small role, it'd still just be cool to see her somewhere else.**

**That being said, if anyone ends up writing and needs filler OCs, you can definitely use her likeness as long as she's not taking part in anything lewd...as I said, this Gem is my child. Also tell me when you do, not that I'd say no, I just want to see what you do with her character.**

**Anyway, as always, good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.**


	6. First-Mission

**Welcome to the next chapter, I took a day break after putting out my last one that was originally the first half of this one. Yeah, it was supposed to be part of this chapter, but after I ended up making it all one big chapter, I got over 5k words, and no one wants to sit through over 5k words. So without further ado,**

**get comfortable, grab some snacks, and let's read.**

**-=Seven Years Later=-**

**-=Yellow Diamond/Jasper/Steven/Dendrite=-**

Steven; now twelve years old, was riding in Yellow's arm ship along side a ship that held a professional team of Quartz soldiers.

Two years ago he had finished what would be high school, now having only a weekly visit to Blue's class as to make sure he kept up with his studies. That's not to say that he left Blue behind other than just that though, he still lived with her and spent more non-training time with her than any of the other Diamonds

Speaking of training, Steven and Dendrite had gotten far better at fighting than they were all those years ago. Dendrite opted to use a pair of short arming swords and throwing knives after giving up on ever summoning her own weapon.

As for Steven? Well, almost as planned, he was an effective fighter with most weapons by now, he of course still had a ways to go before he could comfortably use any weapon he was handed, but he had a couple styles perfected. One his most perfected styles being dual wielding. He would fight using a parrying dagger in one hand and wielding a sabre in the other.

Jasper had found him to be a natural at using these weapons and since it was rare for a Gem to be able to properly use two blades at once, she made sure to train him vigorously in the art of dual wielding; something that not even she was all that good at.

"So, Steven, do you understand the mission objective?" Yellow Diamond questioned him as they approached a planet.

"Yes, mother. We have to make sure the planet holds no sentient or threatening life on it so we can begin with the colonization." Steven responded, reciting his orders from memory.

"Very good, keep this up and your first mission just might turn out to be a success." Yellow nodded approvingly with a small yet proud smile.

Steven wore a full body suit, that was sporting mostly a dark pink color, but more on that in a bit. On his back was his sword, perfectly crafted for his size, his dagger that he kept on his side also being a perfect fit for him as they were both handmade. His clothing was meant to look non threatening, but in reality it was actually a new type of superior armor.

Yellow had refused to let him go on a possibly dangerous mission without any protection, so she had a team of her scientists create a suit that was crafted from the strongest steel fibers that were available. In the end, just like anything else, it was possible to cut through his clothing still, but it would be very difficult.

As for the design of this steel fibered creation, while everyone else had a single Diamond on their clothing to represent their Diamond, he sported the Diamond insignia itself on his chest, showing that he fought for all of his Diamonds, not just one.

Dendrite on the other hand decided to keep her dress. She found that it held more room to hide blades and she didn't want the training that she put into learning how to fight while wearing it to go to waste. Her dress sported a pink circle with a pentagon in it over her gem now instead of the blue diamond, showing that she worked for Steven, and Steven alone.

"Alright then short stacks, you two have made impressive progress despite your er...set backs." Jasper began to talk, walking in front of them. "But don't get cocky. If you are to come across anything that may pose a threat, you call it in right away and try to get some backup. Your weapons are a last resort that must only be used if absolutely necessary, do you understand?"

"Yes, Jasper." They both responded in unison, both wearing a serious look. The two of them haven't changed all that much since they were younger, but Steven was instructed to act serious and stern for his debut. Jasper hoped that some attitude would make up for how small he was amongst the other soldiers, Dendrite deciding to do the same as to not make him look bad.

"Good, make sure you keep that in mind. Our team is splitting up to do a scan of the surrounding areas, I can't hold your hands out there, so you two are to stick together, got it?" Jasper asked, eyeing them.

"Yes, Jasper." They both replied, yet again speaking in unison.

"Good, you two just might make proper soldiers yet." She said with a grin as she ruffled their hair. Jasper has grown to accept Dendrite for who she was and even gain a little respect for her determination and sheer force of will, and with Steven, she had grown to see him as a little brother of sorts...not that she knew or understood that. So while she put on her normal strict commander act in public, she was usually surprisingly nice to the two of them.

Steven gave a laugh as he moved her hand away. "Come on Jasper, we're about to land."

"Yeah yeah, let's go." She responded and she stood in between them. Once the ship had come to a halt right above the ground, Jasper activated the pod that would take them out of the ship.

The yellow orb dropped the two and a half Gems off right under Yellow Diamond's arm ship. "Alright then, let's go and meet up with the other soldiers. And remember, Steven: you play the role of an elite and menacing Quartz soldier."

"Right." He said, putting his serious face back on, Dendrite following suit. The trio approached the team of soldiers who were all talking amongst themselves.

"Alright, let's get to the point here!" Jasper called out over the talkative group. Everyone looked their way and went silent. There had been rumors that the legendary Jasper from the earth war was going to be attending this event with her only two alleged students, but no one actually thought she would show up.

"Today we will be splitting up in groups of two and doing a scan over the surrounding area where the first kindergarten will be made." Jasper announced as she walked to the front of the crowd.

Near the back, a couple Gems eyed Steven and Dendrite with a condescending raised brows. Steven noticed this and started to get nervous, did they see through his facade?

He steeled himself and shot them a glare that Jasper had made him practice; she told him it was basically a way to remind Gems that you're a force to be reckoned with, though he didn't really understand how a glare could convey that message. This death glare went very well with Steven's short stature nevertheless; the thought that such a small Gem would dare to shoot them that look said enough to the Gems about his power and made them glance away faster than they looked down to him.

"Now, choose your partner and let's get started! Whoever is second in command here, come to me right away." Jasper said, looking over the crowd. All the soldiers began choosing who they would go with while one stepped out and approached Jasper.

"Yes, I am second in command here." A yellow Gem said as she approached Jasper. "Ya know, I fought in the war for earth too, and I have to say, I have much respect for you."

"Oh, the earth war huh? Well then, right back at ya, I fought alongside some impressive soldiers, you being second in command makes me assume you were one of them?"

"Yes, we fought together during a raid on one of the enemy bases." The Quartz nodded.

"I see, well today we'll be working together again, you're with me." Jasper ordered as she turned away. "We'll be heading straight north."

Jasper walked back over to the group and began to speak again. "Alright, we have eight groups of two here, I'll be going north with your commander, and my students will be going south. The rest of you figure it out for yourselves, I want east, west, north east, south east, north west, and south west covered.

It didn't take long for the teams to decide where they were going, all of them moving out in their own directions.

With Steven and Dendrite, they were heading south together, both finally relieved to be able to act normal again.

"So, do you think we'll actually come across anything dangerous?" Steven asked his childhood friend.

"Hm? Oh, well, it's our first real mission, I don't think Jasper would put us in any real danger, she did say that she didn't want us to fight if something came up, that we should call for backup." Dendrite said, assuming that this was more than likely a test on how good they were with following orders.

"Yeah, about all that...I mean if something were to attack and we just turned tail and ran away, wouldn't that go against the whole 'merciless elite soldiers' image she wants us to portray? I say that if we can handle it, we should just handle it and report about it later." Steven shrugged, thinking that that Jasper would be proud if anything, to see that he could handle himself against an enemy in the real world.

"I don't know, Steven, we have our orders." Dendrite said, not really comfortable with defying Jasper of all Gems. "I mean, what if it's actually dangerous?"

"I see what you mean, like Jasper said, we shouldn't get cocky just because we can fight simulations, but I've been training all my life, I think that much should count for something." Steven sighed as they walked through the thick forest.

"I know, and it does, but while this could be a test, it's probably not a controlled environment, there could be things that are dangerous even for a full on Quartz soldier out here." She warned, walking slightly ahead of him due to her protective instincts.

"I guess we have an excuse to run at that point, but still..." He said, putting his hands in his pockets. "well, I honestly doubt that we'll run into any trouble." He shrugged.

Well, Steven must've jinxed them, cause right after he said that, Dendrite got caught in a trap, it pulling her into the air and hanging her by her foot.

"Oh geez, I got you Dendrite, don't worry." Steven said, despite his own voice full of worry. He pulled out his dagger and went to cut her down, but as he approached her, he felt the ground underneath him fall apart.

Now Steven was in a deep hole and Dendrite was hanging upside down above it. In seconds they were surrounded by a group of people wearing hoods.

"Wow, we actually caught some." One of them spoke, looking between the two of them. A few pulled Dendrite over, who was attempting to grab one of her blades.

"Check her before you bring her down." Another said as he took the knife that she had managed to grab.

Steven struggled to crawl out of the hole as they gave his friend a pat down, taking every weapon they could find.

"Steven, help!" Dendrite shouted as they pulled her down, this giving Steven the fire he needed to claw his way straight up the dirt wall.

After Steven had finally managed to get out, he wasted no time in starting a fight, cutting two of them down with ease before he rushed at another. Unluckily enough, he turned around to reveal that he had taken Dendrite as a hostage, holding her tightly by her hair while hovering a sword over her neck.

"I'd drop the weapons if I were you." The man warned as he pressed it against her skin. "Unless you want your friend here to die."

Steven knew that if she was stabbed or cut like that she would just poof and be fine, but if they saw that only her gem remained after that, they would be quick to make the assumption that they had to destroy it.

He reluctantly dropped his sword and dagger, kicking them away from himself. "There, I'm unarmed, now get away from her." He said with a glare; not the death glare he had practiced with Jasper, but a real glare that burned with hate and anger.

"Heh, good. Tie them up, we're taking them back to the village." The man who was holding Dendrite by her hair announced. He pushed her over to another person who tied her arms behind her back while Steven got the same treatment.

They were surrounded by these natives now as they all marched in the same direction that Steven and Dendrite we're heading before.

Eventually, they ended up in the village that was mentioned before. The houses were all made from straw and wood, most having residents that were watching them through their windows.

"Alright, throw them in the pit, we'll figure out how we can use them to our advantage if the others come this way." Ordered the man who had been giving directions up to this point.

The two found themselves being thrown in some hole that was at least fifteen feet deep, Steven doing his best to make sure that Dendrite wouldn't hurt her gem by getting under her. They hit the floor with a loud thud.

**-=End of Chapter=-**

**Hey there, sorry but I'll be leaving it on a cliffhanger due to the fact that this chapter became too long with the addition of what's coming next, which will be coming soon, I guess I'm just really into writing for this story right now despite how unpopular it is.**

**Maybe that's what makes it so easy to write, I don't have a crowd of a few hundred people looking over each chapter, so I feel less inclined to please the audience with an actual good plot heh.**

**I dunno, just a thought, anyway, as always-**

**Good morning, goodnight, and good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.**


	7. Memories

**Part three of the thing that would've been a single chapter... Jesus, I can't stop writing!**

**Anyway, this story is getting good finally, I'm excited to put the next chapter up, can't wait to see reactions.**

**-=Steven/Dendrite=-**

**-=Starting off from where we left off=-**

"Ugh, that was a long fall." Steven groaned as he rubbed his head. "You ok Dendy?"

Dendrite looked down to him with a smile as she helped him up. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"That's good. I planned on using the communicator to call for help when we got the chance, but it seems like it sorta broke from the fall." Steven sighed, grabbing the busted device from the floor; it had fallen out of his back pocket after he landed. "And it definitely didn't cushion the land."

"Oh no, are we actually trapped?" She asked, starting to panic slightly.

"Well...we certainly won't be getting any help from the others, we can only depend on ourselves and each other to escape." Steven said, looking up at the exit that was a whole fifteen feet above them, now covered by a wooden great.

"Right...but what are we supposed to do? They took all of our weapons. Well, I still have a knife, but that's not going to help us get out of here." She sighed.

"Wait, you still have a knife, where?" Steven asked, looking over to her. She glowed brightly as she shape shifted her torso, and once the light disappeared she had a hole in her stomach. Dendrite reached her hand inside of said hole and pulled out a sizable blade.

"Wow, you think of everything." He chuckled. "Anyway, that might be of use, good job on planning ahead." He said, taking the large knife from her and putting the handle between his teeth, receiving a happy smile from his friend.

"So, what are you gunna do with that?" She asked, curiously watching him as he pressed his back against the wall and put one foot against the other side.

Steven removed the knife from his mouth to speak. "Well, I'mma use this to make sure we can move that grate laer tonight, and then you'll have to take it back and hide it for later." He told her before biting back down on the knife handle as he put his other foot up on the same wall that his back was against. His small limbs made it a struggle to start shimmying up the walls, but he was able to push himself nevertheless.

Once he reached the top he grabbed the wooden bars and held himself there. "Are you stupid?!" A female voice shouted.

Steven nearly dropped back to the bottom of the pit at the sound of the sudden shouting.

"Keep your voice down, the last thing they need to know is that there is fighting amongst us. Now, I brought them here as bargaining chips if the others try to storm in here, and if not...well we can toss the boy, but the girl looks like she could be, how should I say...useful after she grows up some." Said the voice of the man that was leading the group that caught them.

"You're a disgusting pig; we should let. them. go! We don't want to start an unnecessary war with these things!" The woman argued. "Maybe if we give them up now, we can still survive this!"

"Well, even if I did agree with you; which I don't, if we were to turn them in, we would be destroyed just for what we've done already." He said with a chuckle as if he had won the argument.

"You are a very poor chief, no wonder you had to threaten your brother, Marvius' life for you to get the position." She growled at him. Steven could hear her stomp off, seemingly leaving in a fit of rage.

He didn't know what the man was talking about when he said that about Dendrite, but he knew it wouldn't be good. But for the time being, they were just prisoners, nothing more than hostages, and that was good enough for now.

He gently pushed on the wooden grate and it was just as he expected: it was locked. He felt around until he found the rope that held it closed.

Steven pulled the knife from his mouth and cut the rope, leaving it where it was sitting as to not gain the attention of anyone that would pass by.

After he was happy with his work, he slid back down to his friend and handed her the knife back. "Remember, keep it hidden until we've escaped."

"Right, I'll follow your lead." She responded with a nod as she put it back and shape shifted again.

"Alright, Dendy...I won't let you down." Steven promised as he sat beside her.

"Heheh, you've been calling me that since day one, you know it embarrasses me." She giggled as she pushed some hair behind her ear.

Steven laughed along with her. "Why do you think I do it?"

"Stop having fun you two!" The apparent village chief shouted down to them. "Unless you don't want dinner tonight."

"I'll feast on your blood for dinner, you filthy organic!" Steven shouted up to him as he slammed his fist against the wall, though the man seemingly had already left.

"Steven,...you're organic." Dendrite reminded him with a small laugh.

"Oh...right, guess I forget that sometimes." Steven said with a chuckle. "Jasper's attitude has been rubbing off on me or something I guess."

He leaned against the wall and just gave a sigh as he crossed his arms. "This guy is specifically annoying though. He was talking to a woman who wants to let us go, but he won't let her. If we have to fight to get out of here, I'll tell you if you're going to attack her or not, I would like to spare her."

"Right, though I would like to go out of my way personally to get rid of their leader...he was very...handsy when searching me." Dendrite said quietly.

"Well, I got your back." Steven replied with a smile as he grabbed her hand. "Team abnormals?"

"Team abnormals." She replied as she squeezed his hand returning the smile. "We will get through this."

"Of course we will, as long as we work together, no one will stop us, remember?" He asked with a grin, thinking back to the time that they fought Jasper while training.

**-=One year ago=-**

**-=Jasper/Steven/Dendrite=-**

**-=Training Room=-**

"Alright you runts, today is a special day for the two of you." Jasper grinned at the duo as she crossed her arms. It seemed like "runt" had gone from being an insult with her to just being a nickname for them.

"Today, you will be fighting me. You both have come a long way since five years ago, I think it's time you have a shot at your right of passage." She continued, seeming to get excited.

"Really, Jasper? You're really strong, I'm not sure either of us will be able to beat you." Steven said with uncertainty in his voice.

"Ha! Of course neither of you could beat me in a one on one fight, but I've been doing this for thousands of years, so don't feel bad about that. No, you two are going to team up and fight me. If you work together, you might actually stand a chance." She reassured them.

"Really?" Dendrite spoke up. "Do you really think that we're that strong together?"

"Yeah, you two have trained together many times, you're a good power team because you trained to work together almost as if you shared a mind." Jasper said, walking around them.

The two looked at each other, exchanging smiles. "She's right, we can do this, even if we fail today, just fighting her is a huge milestone that I wouldn't want to obtain without you." Dendrite said with determination.

"Yeah, let's do this. Okay, Jasper! Me and Dendrite are going to fight you and we won't loose!" Steven shouted as he pulled his wooden training sword off his back and held his hand on his wooden dagger that served the same purpose.

"Right, let's do this." Dendrite said pulling out two wooden arming swords.

"Ah ah ah, we're fighting all out, and since I won't be holding back, you're going to be using real weapons this time. I actually had them specially made for you two." Jasper said as she walked over to a table that was covered with a cloth.

Steven and Dendrite watched curiously as she tossed the cloth to the ground. On the table were brand new, polished steel weapons.

For Dendrite, there was a large set of throwing knives and two short arming swords.

On the other side, there was a sabre that had been made small enough for Steven to use but still big enough to do a good amount of damage, and a parrying dagger for him, along with new holsters for all the weapons that were presented.

"Woah...you had those made for us?..." Steven asked with stars in his eyes as he approached the table.

"Well, you two have worked hard to get this far, Yellow has even been thinking about sending you out on a mission, you'll need proper weapons to be proper warriors." Jasper said, still holding her massive grin, overjoyed to see all the work she put into training these two finally put to the test. "I just asked for the weapons I knew you two were best at, but don't think this means you're done learning how to use new weapons."

The two of them grabbed their respective weapons, Steven discarding his wooden sword and dagger with their holsters and replacing them with his new steel ones, his dagger on his hip and sabre on his back.

Dendrite following suit and replacing all of her wooden throwing knives with the brand new steel ones, the holsters being hidden all over her dress. Next she replaced the two arming swords that sat on her hips.

"Thank you Jasper!" Steven said as he clung to her waist, squeezing her in a hug.

Dendrite stood behind him with a smile of her own. "We won't disappoint you."

Jasper laughed as she gave Steven a playful noogie. "I know you won't, you've been trained under me for the past five years!"

Steven laughed along with her as he pushed her away. "Alright then, I guess it's time for us to actually fight you then?"

"Ha, that's the spirit! But don't go getting cocky on me now, you have to beat me first before you have bragging rights." Jasper grinned as she summoned her crash helmet.

Steven turned to Dendrite. "Okay, all we gotta do is poof her." Steven said, trying to sound as confident as possible, though that failed a few seconds later. "What am I saying 'all we gotta do is poof her'?" He said with a facepalm. "We need a plan."

Jasper stood there patiently with her arms crossed as Steven and Dendrite spoke to each other quietly making their plan. "You two ready?"

"One sec!" Steven called. "So, you understand the plan?"

"Yeah, hopefully you're right though." Dendrite said, glancing over to Jasper. "We can't rely on strength and skill alone, we're going to fight what many call The Perfect Quartz, and we aren't even full or proper Quartz soldiers."

"Exactly, but like she said: if we're working together we have a chance, and if we can do this, we can do anything, no matter how abnormal we are."

"Abnormal huh? I guess were just a small team of abnormals then?" Dendrite asked with a small chuckle.

"Yeah, but that's not really a bad thing, right? Sure, we're a team of abnormals, but that has a whole new meaning if we say it with confidence, now say it with me-" Steven grinned.

She smiled back and nodded before they grabbed each other's hands. "Team abnormals!" They cheered in unison, much to the confusion of Jasper.

"We're ready." Steven replied as he pulled out his blades and walked in front of Jasper.

"You know, you of all people shouldn't be as confident as you are, your weapons make you have to get close to your enemies, and you aren't going to be able block the attacks of a blunt object like my crash helmet; at least Dendrite will be able to get ranged attacks in with her throwing knives." Jasper said as they began to circle each other, Dendrite jumping back to get some distance between her and Jasper.

Steven didn't say a word as he bent his knees slightly, holding up his blades as he got ready for the first attack. "Alright then, let's begin." She smiled madly.

She charged right for Steven, the hybrid countering this decision by deciding to run right at her as well. Once he got close, he put all of his weight onto one foot, gripping the handles of his blades tightly, and swinging his sword, preparing to thrust his dagger into her chest as a follow up attack.

Jasper saw right through him and launched herself into the air, jumping right over him. He turned around expecting to have to dodge an attack, but only saw her running away from him and going right for Dendrite.

The small Gem had dug her blade into the wall near the ceiling and was throwing knives right at the approaching warrior, Jasper jumping side to side, dodging as many knives as she could, though a few successfully hit their target.

Dendrite jumped off the wall with all her strength as Jasper launched herself towards her. The white Gem threw more blades at her, landing a few in her back now that she was in the air and incapable of dodging.

She landed next to Steven and jumped behind him. "I'm all out, your turn."

Steven nodded as Jasper landed on the ground right before him, seeming to wince in pain as she removed the knives that she could reach. He ran at her with both blades out, swinging his sabre, causing her to jump back. Steven didn't stop his pursuit, still rushing her and swinging his sword, ducking under her fist as she made a swing, before thrusting his dagger, barely missing her chest, and just managing to slice a deep cut into her side.

Jasper took this opportunity to slam her arm down, pinning his arm in between her body and arm. "Got cha."

Jasper swung her head back, ready to slam her crash helmet right into his face. What she didn't expect was to see Dendrite falling from the ceiling with both of her arming swords pointed down, heading right for Jasper's face.

The large orange Gem went to put her arm in the way but felt a sharp pain shoot through said arm, along with her other. Steven had stabbed his sword right through her attacking arm and dug his dagger into the back of the arm she was using to keep him trapped.

She looked down to him. "Huh, I see...so that's why you didn't hit me." Dendrite's blades sliced through the back of her neck, the tips of them coming out from the other side.

She poofed almost immediately, her gem falling to the floor along with the knives that were left in her back.

**-=Steven/Dendrite=-**

**-=Present time=-**

"Heh, yeah, I remember that. Jasper was so proud of us when she came back." Dendrite laughed as she sat against the wall.

"Yeah, it's a shame it took her so long to come back though. Two days right?" Steven asked as he joined her. "I remember how we had to catch up on the training we missed."

"Yeah...but it's probably for the best that she stayed in her gem, who knows what would've happened if she saw our...celebration." Dendrite said with a blush.

"Oh, yeah...that." Steven said with a slight laugh. "Honestly, I don't think it was all that bad, we didn't get caught and it felt really nice."

**(Alright, I am reading this the next morning during edits, and I get how this might sound bad, but I think it's funny, so I'm keeping it. It's a joke, nothing more.)**

**-=Steven/Dendrite=-**

**-=After defeating Jasper=-**

Steven laughed excitedly as he caught his friend before she hit the floor. "We did it!" He cheered as he spun her around with a large smile.

Dendrite began giggling as she realized the accomplishment that the two of them have just achieved: they took out Jasper! She wrapped her arms around him bringing him into a hug from her excitement.

They began to glow, neither of them even noticing it, and then another second later, where two beings once stood, one remained.

**-=????'s POV=-**

I looked down at myself...we looked down at ourself? I couldn't wrap my mind around what just happened, one second Steven and Dendrite were celebrating and the next they-we-I-

"...oh no...this is so wrong, I'm sorry!"

And just like that...I disappeared.

**-=Steven/Dendrite=-**

The duo fell to the floor after the fusion fell apart.

"I-I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to!" Dendrite shouted as she backed away. "I-I didn't know, I mean it, please don't be mad!"

"Dendrite? What-...What was that?" Steven asked, sounding really confused as he looked down at his hands.

"I know you must be mad at me, I understand, just please don't hate me, I'm sorry!" She continued to apologize profusely.

Steven rushed over to her and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Dendrite, please, what just happened?"

She looked up to him with tears in her eyes, noticing how scared he looked. "Are you ok?!" He asked worriedly.

"It's... Steven, don't you know what fusion is?" Dendrite asked, now confused herself.

He began to calm down. "Fusion?...What's that?"

"It's kind of hard to explain...it's when two Gems become one, usually for fighting, but you're a Rose Quartz, and I'm a Dendrite, we can't do this, only same types of Gems are aloud to fuse!" She explained, hoping he wouldn't get upset.

"I don't care about all that...that was amazing!" He shouted with a grin, doing a complete one eighty in emotions.

"Steven, it wasn't supposed to be amazing, we could get in big trouble..." She tried to tell him

"But why? Didn't you feel it too? It felt...right." Steven said with a smile as he looked up to her.

"I-Um...well...it wasn't bad. It's just...we shouldn't be doing this, we could get in a lot of trouble." She said, fiddling with her fingers.

"Really?...Oh, that's...well, it can be our secret, something that only the two of us know, right?" Steven asked with a grin.

"Yeah...yeah, we can make this a secret between me and you. Our own secret that no one will ever know." Dendrite agreed.

**-=Back in the present=-**

**-=Steven/Dendrite=-**

"Yeah, that was pretty crazy. I wonder why no one ever told me about fusion before that." Steven said with a sigh.

"Well, it's something that's very taboo...I completely understand if they didn't want you to be involved with it in the slightest." Dendrite answered as she looked up to the sky, the setting sun had almost completely disappeared.

"Well I mean, if they refuse to tell me about something that I shouldn't do, wouldn't that make it inevitable for me to do it eventually?" Steven asked, following her gaze.

"Yeah, I guess so. I dunno, I feel like you should talk to one of the Diamonds about it; probably Blue, just don't tell her why you really know what fusion is.

"Yeah, with the way you describe cross Gem fusion, I don't even want to know what my punishment will be." Steven chuckled.

"Yeah, I remember the time you were put in your room for three days straight after they took all your toys and stuff, and all you did was raise your voice at Yellow." Dendrite laughed. "Though I guess if any other Gem gave attitude to Yellow, they'd likely become a fine dust under her boot."

"Yeah, I mean I'm sure I wouldn't get a punishment as bad as any other random Gem, but I'm sure it wouldn't just be a time out." Steven agreed.

"How many times do I have to tell you two to shut up?!" The village chief shouted down to them again.

Dendrite gave a sigh. "Guess it's best to just be quiet until it's time to take action." She said quietly.

"Don't worry, we just have to wait until they go to sleep, once it's completely dark out, we will escape." Steven nodded as he closed his eyes with a yawn. "But until then, we can just nap or something, cause we got a few hours."

"Right." Dendrite said, though she couldn't find the peace that she needed to be able to fall asleep, instead just deciding to watch over Steven while he slept.

**-=End of Chapter=-**

**Alright, and there goes my last consecutive chapter, I wanted to save this for once I finished the next chapter, but I just felt I had to get it out as soon as possible. **

**Now, I can't promise an update as fast as it's been updated for the past chapter or two, but I can say that I'll be starting the next chapter right away so I don't forget my ideas, after that one, I'll probably be out of content for a bit, so I'll work on my StevenxSpinel story again.**

**Anyway, as always-**

**Good morning, goodnight, and good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.**


	8. Prison-Break

**Hello people, here comes the last consecutive chapter for this story. I really enjoy writing this, but I don't want to let myself keep writing it and exhausting all my ideas, that backs me into a corner and I can't find anywhere to go, and I don't want that for this story or any other story that I make; you know, learn from your mistakes I guess? **

**Also, I would like to put a disclaimer here: there is graphic depictions of death, blood, and all that good stuff. If that's not your thing, then you can skip all the fighting but it might make you a bit lost on some of the plot.**

**I dunno, anyway, here's the chapter; hope you enjoy it. Also I think I'm stopping with the intro, I mean "get comfortable and grab a snack"? These take like two minutes to read if that ffs, it makes no sense lol.**

**Anyway, let's read.**

**-=Steven/Dendrite=-**

**-=That night=-**

"Steven? It's dark out now, should we get going?" Dendrite asked quietly as she shook the hybrid gently.

Steven slowly sat up still half asleep. "Dark?- oh yeah; yeah, let's go." He said, standing up and stretching. "You think you'll be able to get up to the top or should I grab something?"

"No, that's fine, I can do it." She nodded as she stood up as well. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Steven put his back against the wall and his feet on opposite side just as he did least time, grunting as he began hoisting himself up.

Once he got to the top, he pushed the wooden grate up and looked around slowly. "Alright...it looks like no one is here, we need to find our stuff and go."

"Are you sure we shouldn't sabotage them? If we can weaken them here, they won't be a problem later on." Dendrite whispered.

"If it's on the way out or on the way to our weapons, do whatever you think is best." He replied quietly before lifting the grate off completely and setting it down on the ground.

Steven hopped out of the hole and pulled his friend out right after. "So, when we came in, the people holding our stuff went the opposite way, I'm sure we can find them if we head in that direction." He informed her, staying low to the ground as he walked past the entrance of the village.

They snuck around for a bit; hiding behind houses and bushes the whole while until they came to a stop in front of a large building with a guard standing at the door.

"This place seems important, but there's someone standing guard, let's find another way inside." Dendrite whispered before she began walking to the side of the building, staying in the shadows, Steven walking closely behind.

They found a window with wooden bars over it, though it wasn't hard to get through them. After the two of them slipped into the dark building they immediately began looking around.

After nearly ten minutes of searching Steven found something interesting. "Dendrite, I think this is it." Steven called in a hushed voice as he attempted to pull open a large chest with multiple locks.

"What makes you say that?" She asked as she walked up behind him, eyeing the chest curiously.

"Well, it's the only thing here that I can't open, it looks important, and I can't find our stuff anywhere else." He said as he grabbed one of the locks. "Anyway, what are these and how do we get them off?"

"I don't know, I've never seen anything like it either, but it seems to be some kind of locking mechanism. Obviously this civilization hasn't really developed at all in the technology department, so it should be fine if we just break them, right?" Dendrite said, looking back to Steven.

"Right, but there's a guard just outside that door, we have to be quiet." Steven sighed as he looked around.

"Wait, the guard. Maybe he has something that can get these off." She theorized as she inspected the lock. "It looks like you put something in the bottoms, maybe that will help us open this quietly."

"Right, but how will we get rid of him if we don't have our weapons?" Steven asked, looking around for anything that could help them.

"Like this." She said, shapeshifting her torso again and collecting her knife from inside her.

"Oh yeah, I can't believe that I forgot you had that." Steven said, facepalming at the realization as she shifted back to her original form.

Dendrite just smiled as she turned to a shelf that was cluttered with boxes. She then started pushing them off of the shelf, making noises that were just loud enough for the guard outside to hear. "You go hide, I got this."

Steven did as instructed and went behind a stack of boxes, watching as the guard entered with a torch. "Hello?! Anyone in here?!"

He walked over to where he heard the noise, noticing the boxes on the ground, and bending down to pick one up. "How the-"

He was interrupted, now making gagging and gurgling sounds as the sound of liquid spilling onto the dirt floor could be heard.

Steven peeked from behind the boxes again to see Dendrite standing in front of the man who was still bent forwards, almost at face level with her. She had an innocent smile, holding her knife that was lodged in his throat.

After a few seconds she pulled it out and he fell over in a pool of his own blood, leaving Dendrite standing there with a crimson red staining her white hair and face.

His torch rolled over to a pile of boxes, starting a small fire, but neither of them were too worried, as they would be leaving soon.

"Look, Steven, I got him!" She cheered, waving her blood covered knife around in the air with a smile on her face.

Steven gave a small chuckle as he walked over to her. "Hey now, you need to be careful, you're about to wake the whole village up."

"Oh, right, I'm sorry." She whispered. "I'm just excited, I won my first real fight against someone, did I do good?"

"Heh, of course you did, he woulda killed us if you didn't." Steven reminded her. He bent down to one of the boxes on the floor, it's contents spilling all over the place and mostly covered in blood.

Dendrite felt giddy when praised for her actions by Steven, she had actually protected him for the first time!

The hybrid sighed as he picked up a clean cloth from the pile. "It's just too bad that it had to be so messy, stuff like this makes me disgusted by the fact that I'm half of that." He said as he started wiping the blood off of her face.

"It's ok, Steven, you shouldn't be ashamed to be what you are, you're the first and only of your kind, shouldn't that at least count for something? I think that it's your organic side that makes you so nice, so I'm glad you're part organic." Dendrite said, sitting still so he could clean her face up.

"Heh, you really think so? Well, if that's the case, I am too. I don't think a life of servitude to our Diamonds would seem nearly as worth it if I didn't have someone like you around." Steven smiled, finishing up with what he could clean, before bending down and searching the guard. "Anyway, is this what you're looking for?"

Steven held up a set of keys, those being one of the only things that the guard had on him, and the fire now spreading to the back wall.

"Those look like they fit in the holes, let me see them." She said, taking the keys and walking over to the chest. She stuck multiple keys into a lock before finding the right one. "Ok, I think I found it."

"Alright, just make it fast, that fire is getting big." Steven warned as he walked up behind her.

She messed with the key for a bit, pulling it out and pushing it back in a few times, just generally unsure on what she could do with them until she realized that they turn.

It probably took her two minutes to get the locks removed, but she got the chest opened nevertheless. "Oh, you were right, our stuff is in here."

Steven grinned as he grabbed his weapons, and strapped the holsters back onto his person. "Hey there guys, it's nice to see you again."

Dendrite just giggled at how he spoke to his weapons while collecting all of hers. "Alright, I think that's it, now let's get out of this pla-"

She was interrupted by a door slamming. The two of them turned around to see that a large group of men had surrounded them. "Well, well, well, looks like we have some escaped prisoners."

Steven recognized the voice to be the village chief. The man walked to the front of the crowd and lowered his hood. He had long purple hair that fell down his back and orange skin, looking to be in his mid twenties maybe.

"The village chief, you're the one keeping us here." Steven glared as he pulled his weapons out.

"Well, I see that you know who I am. That being said, you two are trespassing, and you have committed murder, not to mention arson; I don't think anyone will have a problem with me throwing you back in the pit this time." He chuckled as he turned around, walking back through the crowd. "Capture those two, preferably alive, but it doesn't matter."

"Are you insane?! This place is about to burn down, we need to take this outside!" Steven insisted.

"You can leave this building once you give up or die, my men won't falter because of some flames." The man said, brushing the boy off.

The group approached the duo, all drawing their weapons. "Okay, I guess we have to fight here. Dendrite, begin indoor attack pattern four, understood? Wait for me to tell you when to go, and be careful with the fire."

"Yes, Steven." She said with a nod before grabbing a large rope from one of the shelves. "Is it ok if I use pattern four modification three?"

"As long as you have the items you need to make it happen and you're sure that they can support your weight." He said, slicing completely through an attacker and using his dagger to slice through another's throat.

"Right." She said, jumping up to the ceiling and disappearing into the shadows and smoke that were caused by the fire.

The guards were so focused on her now that they didn't even notice Steven charging them till it was too late. In an instant, he had taken out four men, each dying before they even hit the floor.

They all moved into a formation that surrounded the hybrid who was more than handling up to five people at a time.

Steven caught a blade that was heading right for his face between his dagger and sabre, only to have another rush him from behind.

He glanced back, seeing that if he broke this hold, the sword would split his skull in two, but if he didn't defend himself he would likely be killed all the same.

Or that would be the case if he didn't have his partner, Dendrite. "Now Dendrite!"

She dropped from the roof, swinging towards the attacker, a rope wrapped around her ankle allowing her to use her swords to slice through the attacker, decapitating him before she swung back up to the other side, once again disappearing into the shadows. The large group of people watched in helpless confusion as she dropped down, swinging by and taking at least one out every time she swung by, coming from a different direction each time she came down.

With their focus back on her, Steven redirected the blade and ran his dagger into the skull of the man he was fighting from under his jaw, before going back to slicing and dicing the others into pieces while Dendrite defended him with her swinging attacks.

The fire raged as they finished fighting the last of the team, the village chief running towards the door and calling for help but Dendrite cut the rope and dropped down in front of him.

He backed up in fear as she approached, only to back into Steven, and who was sitting there, waiting for him.

He looked like he was about to break down as he fell to the floor and began backing away from them both, crawling over the corpses of his fallen fighters.

"Wh-What are you two?!" He asked, his back hitting the wall, making that a dead end for him, quite literally.

"We're Team Abnormals!" Dendrite smiled kindly as she stood in front of him, leaning her blood splattered face close to his.

"Wait, please, I'll do whatever you want, please don't kill me!" He pleaded and begged for his life but it fell on deaf ears. She brought back her sword and dove it into his skull, right between his eyes.

Dendrite walked back to Steven still with a smile. "Is it time to go now?"

The boy sighed as he heard the shouting of many voices outside, wiping blood away from his mouth. "Nope, were only just getting started."

He kicked the door open to reveal an even larger crowd of soldiers waiting for them. "You got my back?"

"Yep, I always do." She smiled as she walked next to him. The two charged into the crowd, Dendrite smiling while Steven kept a focused look.

-=The next morning=-

-=Steven/Dendrite=-

The sun rose over the horizon, illuminating the village. In the middle of it all stood Steven and Dendrite.

The whole village had been painted a beautiful crimson red, puddles of the alluring color were everywhere, as were the bodies of the village's soldiers and warriors. Half of the village had burned down, the relaxing crackling of the wooden houses around them being the only other sound in the area, the other being Dendrite.

She had been trying to get Steven's attention for hours now, nearly breaking down in tears when he wouldn't even acknowledge her presence.

After the battle died out and they were on their way out of the village, Steven's eyes went wide in an almost horrified manner and he hadn't moved a single inch since then other than the constant shaking all over his body, his weapons being held in an iron grip.

While Dendrite had been trying to get his attention, she didn't dare touch his shaking form in fear of what his reaction might be. So she just sat in front of him on her knees, crying her eyes out.

"Steven, please speak to me, what's wrong?!" She cried, gripping her dress tightly, angered that there was nothing she could do.

Not much longer after that, the sound of voices had approached the village, all them stopping once the team of Quartz soldiers stopped at the entrance.

"Uh, Jasper...I thought you said they were in danger..." the second in command Quartz spoke to her, looking over the burning village and the two blood soaked Gems in the center of it all.

Before Jasper could even speak, Dendrite had ran over to her and grabbed her leg, smearing the almost dried blood all over her. "Jasper! You need to help him, he hasn't moved since last night!"

"Dendrite, what happened here? Did you two do all this?" She asked, referring to the dozens of corpses that littered the area and the destroyed houses.

"Th-they used me as a hostage and kidnapped us, and once we escaped and grabbed our weapons, they attacked! Steven was doing perfectly fine until after the fight, we were about to leave and he just froze! He's been standing there, shaking ever since then!" She explained.

Jasper was confused, but never the less she slowly made her way over to the boy who held a look of fear and trauma in his eyes...his pink eyes?

Jasper shook her head, focusing back on the boy. "Steven, are you okay, what are you doing, you're worrying Dendrite."

As soon as Jasper placed a hand on him, he screamed and she went sliding a good few feet back. The orange Gem looked back to the boy who was still standing there...but now he had a shield out.

It was a shield that Jasper knew all too well, it gave her flashbacks of the few times that she saw Rose. It was that same transparent pink shield with the rose vine design.

Jasper watched in awe at the first time Steven had summoned his weapon, but it didn't last for long as the boy dropped to the floor, blacking out.

**-=End of Chapter=-**

**Welp, there goes my family friendly rating, hope this doesn't effect how many people see my story too much.**

**Now, some of you for whatever reason might be offended that I'd have Steven be this merciless and careless with the lives of other beings at all...and I respond with: He was raised on Homeworld and trained to kill by Jasper and Yellow, he's not going to be the empathetic little boy we are used to. **

**-=C**o**n**t**e**n**t **r**e**t**r**a**c**t**e**d**=-**

**Anyways, as always-**

**Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.**


	9. The-Darker-Side-of-You

**Okay, to any of you who were here before I made this chapter, you'll know that I said something about what was wrong with Steven...well, since it was an authors note, I can and will retract that statement without any backlash because it wasn't even a cannon part of the story yet and this is more interesting.**

**You see, I make this story up on the spot, nothing is really planned except some big plot points, this not being one of those big plot points.**

**Anyway, I always come up with a better plot after writing one, though I will say that I'm actually somewhat proud of the story I'm putting together here. So, I won't spoil this chapter for you, just enjoy.**

**-=Steven/Dendrite/Jasper/Peridot=-**

**-=Homeworld/Peridot's Lab=-**

"So, he's just been out since then?" Peridot asked, giving Steven another scan after being told the story of what happened. "Hm, maybe his weapon took too much energy out of him? Other than there being more activity in his gem than usual, he looks to be ok, and I'm not sure how that would harm him in any way."

"But, that doesn't explain why he was acting the way he was before this happened!" Dendrite argued, not wanting to just write this off as something potentially less than what it might actually be.

"I'm sure his mind just wasn't ready to go through killing over fifty people in the matter of one night; his training has always been against holograms, maybe he just wasn't prepared to spill blood like that yet." Peridot shrugged it off.

"No, I don't think that was it. Wouldn't he be like that after killing just one person? We killed a guard, twenty soldiers in the shed, and another seventy outside, I'm sure he would've had a breakdown before then." Dendrite said, still not willing to give up.

"Tell you what, we can just ask him about it when he wakes up. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to clean all of this disgusting organic juice off of him and his armor, you should go do the same." Peridot said, lifting Steven up and taking him to the cleaning area that would usually be for if there was a chemical accident. "Jasper, you escort her back to Steven's area, make sure she cleans all of that off of her."

"Wait, I have to stay with Steven though!" She argued, approaching Peridot. "What if he's hurt, I want to be here."

Jasper just gave a huff as she lifted Dendrite up with one hand, putting her under her arm. "Alright short stuff, let's get you cleaned up before Steven wakes up, you can come back when you and him are clean and he's awake."

Jasper took the worried little Gem back to Steven's place while they waited for more news.

Finally, after maybe and hour, they were called back to Peridot's lab, being told that Steven had woken up.

Dendrite was the first through the automatic door, Jasper not far behind. "Steven!"

Steven's "armor" was sitting on the bench next to him, all the blood cleaned off of it, while he was in his usual earth cloths, wearing a dark pinkish red long sleeved shirt with the diamond insignia on it, along with black pants.

Dendrite stopped right in front of him, feeling as if she touched him that he would break. "Are you ok?..."

"Uh, yeah. You and Peridot both, enough with asking if I'm ok, I just have kind of a headache, that's all." He reassured them as he dropped down to the floor and stretched. "So, what happened that has you guys so worked up?"

All three Gems have him a confused look, thinking he would at least remember summoning his weapon for the first time.

"Steven, do you remember anything from the village?" Dendrite asked carefully.

"Hmm, we escaped the hole, broke into that warehouse, got our weapons, and fought all the warriors in village, just the two of us. We then...wait, what did we do after that?" The hybrid thought for a moment. "I don't know, everything is just blank from then on."

Dendrite went to explain what happed but Peridot interrupted her. "Steven, I'll need you to try harder to remember what happens after that; if you can, then maybe we can figure out what caused it."

"What caused it? Geez, I'm really missing most of the story here." He sighed, closing his eyes. "Alright then, I'll try harder, but don't expect anything."

He with his eyes closed, he began massage his temples as he tried to think. "Guy's, I don't think it's worki-" he stopped his sentence as his head began to throb again.

He couldn't remember anything visually, but he could remember a voice... it was like someone lapped his voice over itself a few times; it was soft, calm, and echoey. "You're inadequate. Let me out. I can finish this right now. I want to fight...I want control." The voice echoed even more at that last word specifically.

It wanted him to kill the innocent civilians, telling him things like: "There's no such thing as innocence" and "Leave no witnesses; witnesses mean you were too weak to kill them all." It spoke with a calm bloodlust as it made these demands and claims.

He grabbed his head in pain much to the surprise and worry of the other three Gems in the room.

"Uh, Steven? You ok there bud?" Jasper asked making her way over to him.

"M-make it stop!" Steven cried, dropping to his knees as images of the dead fighters flashed in his head; the villagers running away from their burning village while he fought.

He could see a shadowy outline of himself sort of glitch into existence where he once stood, standing before the raging flames of the houses behind him, crimson red dripping from his blades. It turned to him and opened its eyes...its dark pink eyes. Then...it began to walk. It was slowly making his way over to him, opening its mouth, the inside of it glowing a burning dark pink, sticking its tongue out and licking the blood off of his blades before putting them away. He couldn't speak, he couldn't yell, he couldn't move.

As it approached, he could hear someone gradually getting louder than the screams. "-ven!" They called out to him as it got closer. "-even!" They tried again, this dark and sinister version of him, now standing right in front of him, reaching out to touch him. "STEVEN!" Right before it laid so much as a finger on him, the world disappeared, leaving Dendrite right in front of his face, looking really upset.

"It's ok Steven! You can stop trying to remember!" She insisted, grabbing his shoulders.

Peridot stood there, unable to do anything to help the boy, so she took notes.

After a minute or so, Steven had calmed down, the voice stopped whispering in his head, and the images had yet to return.

"Are you ok now Steven?" Peridot asked, approaching him cautiously.

"Y-Yeah...I'm fine now. Can I please just go home now? I want to lay down..." Steven said, deciding against telling them about what he saw and heard, wanting to figure out what it all meant.

"Uh...sure. Jasper, take him back home for now, we'll run some tests tomorrow." Peridot ordered as she turned back to her equipment.

"Come on runt, let's get going." Jasper said, giving a grin as she lifted him up onto her shoulder and leaving the lab with Dendrite in tow, Steven being uncharacteristically quiet and unexcited, if anything, he looked to be distracted.

"Soo...do you know, you summoned your weapon?" Jasper asked, her grin returning when she saw it caught his interest.

"Really? I cant say I remember that, no. What's my weapon?" He asked still not seeming to put his entire mind to the conversation.

"Well, it's a shield. It's perfect for your body size, round, pink, transparent, and is decorated with rose vines." Jasper described it to him.

"Oh, that's nice, I wonder if I'll be able to summon it again tomorrow at training." He said, running his hand over his gem. Just because there was something going on that he didn't understand, didn't mean he could stop working to become stronger...he lost to them because they had a hostage, it was an unfamiliar situation that he needed to adapt to.

"Actually, the Diamonds want you to have a day off tomorrow, Yellow was really worried and so was Blue, but they had to go off planet to the front lines of a war zone. Yellow's tactics are unmatched, and Blue has to be there if they surrender; she's the diplomatic one." Jasper said, to his disappointment.

"I see. Well, I guess that'll just give me time to learn how to summon my shield; I'll just make sure I can pull it out at will by the time they get here then." Steven said, still determined to make them proud.

"Heh, that's the spirit, just don't overwork yourself till we understand what happened with you." Jasper laughed as they approached his place.

"Right...so Dendrite, you saw me summon my shield too?" He asked, looking back to her.

"Yeah, but I do wish it was under better circumstances." She said with a nod as they entered his house area.

"Heh, I just wish I could remember it." Steven chuckled lightly as he dropped down from Jasper's shoulder.

"Don't worry your little heads over it, you'll be pulling it out again in no time now that we know you actually can." Jasper said, her proud grin still as big as ever.

"Right, I'll see you soon then." Steven said to Jasper, turning to go to his room. After he was gone, Jasper turned to Dendrite.

"Hey, make sure you keep an eye on him tonight...we can't take the time to relax until we understand what's going on here." She said, glancing at Steven's door.

"Right, will do." Dendrite nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

After Jasper was gone, Dendrite made her way to Steven's room, knocking twice before opening the door. "Hey Steven."

"Oh, hey Dendy." He said waved, sitting on his bed with a book. "Did Jasper leave?"

"Yeah, I'm sure she has work to do and a report to make with the Kindergarteners before they start colonizing that planet." Dendrite answered, making her way to his bed, laying down at the foot of it with a sigh. "That whole village thing was stressful to say the least, how are you feeling?"

"Eh, the whole part about killing all those organics isn't really what's messing with me, I knew there'd be a day when we would have to take the lives of real living beings and I was more than ready for that." Steven explained as he shut his book.

"Then...what's wrong?" She asked, turning to him with a worried look. "You haven't been acting like your usual self since we left the lab. I mean, you summoned your weapon for the first time and you're not even excited or anything about it, this is something you've been working towards since before we met."

Steven just sighs as he lays on his back. "I know, it's just...never mind it, I can't say I understand any of it myself."

"Steven, you know you can tell me anything, right? We're partners, we can't work right together if one of us is keeping secrets." Dendrite pressed the situation.

He knew that Dendrite would keep a secret, but he didn't want her to worry about it if it was really nothing but a bad dream or something.

"It's nothing, really. I just have a small headache, don't worry." He says, putting on a smile.

That seemed to get her off the subject, though she didn't look too happy about it. "If you say so...just keep what I said in mind."

"Right, we're partners, we work together and share the weight of our issues with one another." Steven nodded as he pulled the string on his lamp, turning off the only light source in the room. He grabbed a remote and turned to his wall, pressing a button.

The "wall" reviled itself to be a screen, turning on videos of whatever environment he choose, it was Pearl's idea when she was was decorating the place 8 years back. He turned it to under the surface of the ocean (not that he knew what it was) and listened to the sounds of the creatures in the water.

"Goodnight Dendy, you should get some sleep too after all that." He said with a yawn as he turned onto his side, pulling the covers over himself.

"Right, goodnight Steven." She said with a smile, watching him from her spot at the foot of the bed.

She knew that it would be a bad idea to fall rest now; he could be having a night terror that could mess him up even more, but nevertheless she couldn't help it and fell asleep. She had adapted to sleeping too much and now it was incredibly difficult to not do it.

**-=Later that night=-**

Dendrite woke up, not sure when she fell asleep or what had woken her. She looked around before seeing Steven standing in front of his closet.

She got up quietly and approached him slowly. "Hey...Steven?" She asked quietly before putting her hand on his shoulder.

Steven was quick to turn around, sending her tumbling to the ground. She gasped when she saw his eyes, his irises were glowing a dark pink and his sword was gripped tightly in his hand.

"S-Steven?..." Dendrite asked backing away on the ground. "A-are you ok?"

He gave her a glare as he rushed at her, his speed almost making him look like he teleported. He took his sword and held it against her gem.

"STEVEN, PLEASE!" She cried out, closing her eyes and waiting for something to happen. After a few seconds she heard him begin shouting in pain.

He was pulling his hair as he backed away, his sword still in hand. After another few seconds of this, he opened his eyes, their normal brown color returning.

Steven looked at the blade in his hand before his eyes landed on Dendrite, who was on the ground with a look of fear.

"Did It hurt you?! Are you ok?!" He began panicking, running over to his friend, but stopping when she flinched.

The little white Gem didn't answer at first, seemingly testing if he was under control now. Once she was sure he was, she moved over to him again, setting her hand on his gently. "It's ok...just calm down."

He took a minute to calm his breathing as he slid to the floor. "Ok, ok, I'm calm now...Dendy, I'm so sorry, ever since the village everything has been...not right. I don't know why this is happening to me..."

"It's ok Steven, you didn't hurt me in the end, and you're here now; everything is going to be ok, we'll go to Peridot tomorrow morning, ok?" Dendrite spoke softly, moving next to him. "Now, I want you to tell me what's going on with you, and I want the whole story."

"Ok...ok. So, I woke up in Peridot's lab after she got me cleaned up, I got dressed and waited for her to run her tests. You and Jasper came along and all that, and then I tried to remember...once I did I saw this thing. It was standing in the middle of the village, the houses burning down around It and Its blades covered in blood." He began, trying to recall all that happened.

"That thing was me, Dendrite. It was some sort of shadowy version of me, and It had glowing pink eyes, almost as if pink fire was in his eye sockets. It wanted me to kill the innocent villagers, it wanted to take control...it came over to me and went to grab me, but you brought me out of there." He explained. "I didn't think much of it...so I didn't say anything."

"I see...so what happed just now? You were getting your sword and dagger from the closet and when I touched you, I saw that your eyes were pink...is it connected to what you saw?" She asked, trying to figure out what this meant.

"Yeah, definitely. I thought they were just bad dreams and hallucinations, but It took over my body this time..." He sighed, looking down to his sword.

"Tell me about the dream, what happed in there?" She asked, now intrigued by this thing Steven was seeing, was it really real?

"Right...well, first I woke up surrounded by white-" Steven began, telling his story.

**-=In Steven's head=-**

**-=One hour earlier=- **

Steven opened his eyes, instantly regretting it, as the entire world around him was pure white.

"Hello, Steven." The echoey voice spoke from the white void around him in his own voice.

"This again..." He says quietly, looking around. "Who are you?! Come out!"

He felt the floor fall from underneath him, leaving him floating in the air. "Very well."

The whiteness cracked, now covered in black jagged lines before it began shattering like glass around him, falling into the inky darkness below him.

There, not too far from Steven, stood the being that he saw in his head. The hybrid felt fear settle inside himself as the shadowy figure with a dark pink outline approached, walking on the nonexistent ground.

"It's nice to finally see you face to face." He said calmly, his voice stilly echoey. He stopped by the boy who was still suspended in the air.

"Who...who are you, what do you want from me?" Steven asked, trying to sound equally as calm, but this thing could see right through him.

"Simple...I'm you...or at least I'm what you could be." It spoke, Steven now realizing it wasn't even opening its mouth, but the jagged pink line on his face that was his mouth still had the pink glow illuminating from it, just like his burning pink eyes.

"What does that mean?" Steven asked, a shiver running down his spine as it got closer.

"I'm you, but I'm faster, I'm stronger, and I have a stronger will, I don't show weakness like you do, mercy shouldn't be and isn't an option. Unlike you, I don't let have feeling or 'morals' to hold me back from cutting all loose ends and securing our success." It said in its dark echoey voice. "I have become the embodiment of your determination to become a perfect warrior, awoken by your first true battle and taste of death and destruction as well as your incompetence. Only unlike you, I have the power to make us the powerful warrior we are meant to be. I am the embodiment of every power you have no way of accessing."

"You're not making any sense...but, never the less, what is it that you want from me, why are you doing this?" Steven asked cautiously.

"I told you...I want control. For you to let me take ahold of your body, mind, and soul. I have the power and will to be the unstoppable warrior that you and I both know Homeworld needs...but I'm stuck in here, in this forever void, driven by your need to become stronger for them."

"What? No, I won't let you do that! You're bad, you wanted me to kill those innocent people!" He argued, trying to find anywhere to put his feet.

"I'm sorry, but that wasn't a request. I'm going to leave you here, and go out there to get used to using your body. After that, I'll replace you, and no one would even care, because you were replaced with a superior version." It said, getting even closer, the darkness around its hand transferring over to the hybrid as it reached for him, leaving its arm a glowing pink.

No matter how much Steven struggled, he couldn't move, he couldn't resist, and he couldn't escape. Soon, he was covered in the darkness, leaving a more detailed him there. It looked exactly like him, except it was a glowing, transparent, pink version of him.

"Goodbye Steven. You are no longer required." He said, waving his hand as Steven sunk into the darkness, it engulfing him like an ocean.

Steven couldn't speak and he still couldn't move. The only difference was that a massive screen was in front of him now. He was seeing from the eyes of his body. It stood up, looking around for a bit before noticing Dendrite.

"The source of your weakness...the reason you were trapped in the first place." It spoke, starring down at her. "It must be eliminated."

Steven's eyes went wide as he realized what it was talking about. He tried to scream, but no sound came out, he tried to reach out, but he had no body.

He watched helplessly as it walked to his closet, and grabbed his sword.

"Hey...Steven?" He could hear his friend call to this thing. He wanted to tell her to run, to let her know that it wasn't him, but he couldn't.

All it did was turn around quickly and that much alone sent her falling to the floor.

"S-Steven, are you ok?" She asked, a look of fear on her face as she backed away, still on the floor. Steven felt his heart tighten despite the fact he didn't technically have a body. The look that she was giving him was one he never wanted to see from her.

Steven's eyes opened in horror as he saw his own blade brought to his best friend's gem by his own body.

"STEVEN, PLEASE!" He heard her scream. With all of his determination and need to save her he began breaking free.

"DENDRITE!" He called out, sending bright pink cracks across the black plain. He could hear the thing in his body shouting in pain as he ripped himself from the darkness, creating a bright pink hole in the wall where he was, sending even more pink cracks everywhere.

With a look of rage he stomped towards the screen, a light pink aura surrounding him as his left eye's iris turned a light pink and the pupil reshaped into a diamond.

He growled as he began to speed up. "Get away from her!" He yelled as he jumped at the screen, slamming his fist into it, shattering it and the darkness into pieces, everything glowing a bright pink before he could feel the control of his body returning.

"I'll let you keep the Dendrite around for now, she's going to die when I come back anyway. You go ahead and tell her about this, not like she can do anything about it, but if you go to anyone else about this, they'll meet the same fate as she will the next time I return. This defeat won't give you anything but a couple years at most." Its voice echoed one last time before Steven took his body back.

**-=Back to the present=-**

"And well, you know the rest I guess." Steven sighed as he sheathed his sword and put it back.

"That's horrible Steven, I'm so sorry to hear that you're dealing with this. We need to tell Peridot as soon as we can tomorrow." She said, joining Steven by the closer.

"I...I can't, I don't want them to get hurt." Steven said, closing the door. "This thing is dangerous, the more people who know about its existence the more people in danger. It told me it was the embodiment of all the power in my gem that I can't use, I don't think that they could get rid of him safely, and if they can't get rid of him, then they're in danger for no reason."

"I see...and he can see and hear everything?" She asked, still looking worried. "Like, right now?"

"I don't know...I think he can. He knew about you, he watched the whole thing with the village, and I was able to see from my eyes once my body woke up. I could see and hear everything my body could, so I assume that's well within his power." Steven answered, sitting back on his bed.

"But wait, didn't it say something about being set back a couple years? I mean surely Peridot can figure something out by then." She said, trying to see the optimistic side of things.

"I don't know...that's a big risk to take. I mean, I'm sure the Diamonds could stop it, but that could result in the death of myself as a whole." He thought it over, deciding it wasn't worth it.

"But what about when he finally comes back? If they're not at least ready for him, they could be taken out after me anyway." She tried to convince him.

That's when he realized it. No matter if he says anything or not, Dendrite is still in the most danger. His closest friend who hasn't left his side since the day he met her almost quite literally, would be dead.

He looked over to her. "I don't know...like I said, it's a big risk." He said, still facing her as he grabbed a pen from his side table. He opened the book that was on the side table as well and began writing the best he could without looking.

"We can talk about it more tomorrow, just read a book or something." He sighed, handing her the book before laying down. "Imma go to sleep then, goodnight."

Dendrite flipped through the pages to find what he wrote. "Right...goodnight, I'll see you in the morning." She said, as she found the page.

"_You have to tell Peridot about it without me. He can see everything and hear everything that I can, so I can't be with you. Please, help her come up with something, and tell her everything. When you are leaving for Peridot's lab, take this book with you, the secret phrase will be "the truth", make sure that no one other than her hears about this_."

"_I'll save you Steven, don't worry_..." she thought to herself as she closed the book. She laid down and closed her eyes, falling asleep as not to seem suspicious.

**-=End Of Chapter=-**

**Well that was long as fuck. Lmao, I can use profanity now that this isn't a family friendly story. LoVeLy.**

**Anyway, the original idea on Steven having that paralyzed night in the village was going to be because of Pink Diamond.**

**Remember how Peridot is basically giving him Gem steroids without the side effects? Well, originally those went straight to the gem, powering it up until the unused energy brought her conscience back, but it would've been only her conscience, even Pink Steven still existed as a separate entity and became a physical manifestation of his feelings of not feeling good enough, or strong enough.**

**Now, because there will be no good reason to bring this up in the story, I'll just explain it all here.**

**I'm talking of course about why Pink Steven isn't the emotionless being he was in Change Your Mind. Well, Steven has always been apart of this almost functional family that just wanted him to be a normal earth kid for the most part.**

**This Steven, has been in a family where his guardians (the Diamonds) love him, but have hardly any time for him. One of them tells him to be perfectly intelligent, the other telling him to become a perfect warrior.**

**Steven doesn't mind becoming these things for the greater good of Homeworld, but because he is half human in a world of full Gems, he feels inadequate and weak, and Dendrite and himself being captured wasn't exactly a confidence booster either.**

**This Pink Steven is a manifestation of that self deprecation and need to be the perfect warrior, it having a proper bloodlust to make sure nothing gets in its way.**

**That being said, not even it knows that it's a Diamond, it just feels the massive amount of power it carries.**

**Anyway, as always1**

**Good morning, goodnight, or good afternoon, I'll see you all again soon.**


End file.
